Selected quad for the lemma: majesty_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
majesty_n discipline_n doctrine_n great_a 106 3 2.1355 3 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A43206 A chronicle of the late intestine war in the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland with the intervening affairs of treaties and other occurrences relating thereunto : as also the several usurpations, forreign wars, differences and interests depending upon it, to the happy restitution of our sacred soveraign, K. Charles II : in four parts, viz. the commons war, democracie, protectorate, restitution / by James Heath ... ; to which is added a continuation to this present year 1675 : being a brief account of the most memorable transactions in England, Scotland and Ireland, and forreign parts / by J.P. Heath, James, 1629-1664.; Phillips, John. A brief account of the most memorable transactions in England, Scotland and Ireland, and forein parts, from the year 1662 to the year 1675. 1676 (1676) Wing H1321; ESTC R31529 921,693 648

There are 63 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

declaring that what they had done therein was out of a desire of the Peace of the Kingdom whereas the meaning was that their safety and protection was obliged partly to that unwitting service they had done the Faction who were honourably pleased to shield those who had skreened them from the odium of that unfortunate and pernicious Escape and partly to the King who interposed himself in the matter declaring If those Gentlemen were taken and punished as evil doers for Counseling Him not to go out of the Kingdom but rather to come to the place where he now is for the ends aforesaid and for their endeavours in attending Him thither He cannot but expect to be dealt with accordingly His Case being the same The next consideration of this affair by the Parliament was a result of five Votes which forbad any Cavaliers or Papists to be admitted in the Island and left the guard of his Person and the nomination of Officers to attend Him to the General and allowed 5000 l. for the expences of his Court the last of which Hamond quarrelled at as an incompetent pittance but it 's questionable whether he meant not for himself and no doubt he was better paid for his service He also required more aid that forsooth he might be as good as his word in keeping the King in security and out of danger who having passed Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum ad Latium tendit so many perils and discouragements gave not yet over his endeavours after Peace but with a just resolution of not being denied this time when he now granted almost the whole controversie He wooes them in this Message from His Prison at Carisbrook where He had only the liberty of the Walls under a Guard It indeed comprehends and clears all the differences between the King and Parliament CHARLES REX HIs Majesty is confident that before this time His two Houses of Parliament have received the Message which he left behinde Him at Hampton-Court the 11th of November by which they will have understood the reasons which enforced Him to go from thence as likewise his constant endeavours for the settling of a safe and well-grounded Peace wheresoever he should be And being now in a place where he conceives himself to be at much more freedom and security than formerly He thinks it necessary not only for making good his own Professions but also for the speedy procuring of a Peace in these languishing and distressed Kingdoms at this time to offer such grounds to His two Houses for that effect which upon due examination of all Interests may best conduce thereunto And because Religion is the best and chiefest Foundation of Peace His Majesty will begin with that particular That for the abolishing Arch-bishops Bishops c. His Majesty clearly professeth that he cannot give his consent thereunto both in relation as he is a Christian and a King For the first he avows that he is satisfied in his judgment that this Order was placed in the Church by the Apostles themselves and ever since that time hath continued in all Christian Churches throughout the World until this last Century of years and in this Church in all times of Change and Reformation it hath been upheld by the wisdom of His Ancestors as the great preserver of Doctrine Discipline and Order in the Service of God As a King at his Coronation He hath not onely taken a Solemn Oath to maintain this Order but His Majesty and His Predecessors in their Confirmation of the Great Charter have inseparably woven the Rights of the Church into the Liberties of the rest of their Subjects And yet he is willing it be provided that the particular Bishops perform the several Duties of their Callings both by their Personal residence and frequent Preaching in their Dioceses as also that they Exercise no Act of Iurisdiction or Ordination without the consent of their Presbyters and will consent that their Powers in all things be so Limited that they be not grievous to Tender Consciences Wherefore since His Majesty is willing to give ease to the Consciences of others He sees no reason why he alone and those of his Iudgement should be pressed to a Violation of theirs Nor can His Majesty Consent to the Alienation of Church-Lands because it cannot be denied to be a sin of the Highest Sacriledge as also that it subverts the intentions of so many Pious Donors who have laid a heavy Curse upon all such prophane Violations which His Majesty is very unwilling to undergo And besides the matter of Conscience His Majesty believes it to be a prejudice to the Publike Good many of His Subjects having the benefit of renewing Leases at much easier rates than if those Possessions were in the hands of Private men Not omitting the discouragement which it will be to all Learning and Industry when such eminent rewards shall be taken away which now lye open to the Children of the meanest persons Yet His Majesty considering the present great distempers concerning church-Church-Discipline and that the Presbyterian Government is now in practice His Majesty to eschew Confusion as much as may be and for the satisfaction of His two Houses is content that the said Government be Legally permitted to stand in the same condition it now is for three years provided that His Majesty and those of his Iudgement or any other who cannot in Conscience submit thereunto be not obliged to comply with the Presbyterian Government but have free Practice of their own Profession without receiving any prejudice thereby and that a free Consultation and Debate be had with the Divines at Westminster twenty of his Majesties nomination being added unto them whereby it may be determined by his Majesty and the two Houses how the Church-Government after the said time shall be setled or sooner if differences be agreed as is most agreeable to the Word of God with full Liberty to all those who shall differ upon Conscientious Grounds from that Settlement Always provided that nothing aforesaid may be understood to tolerate those of the Popish Profession nor the exempting of any Popish Recusant from the penalties of the Laws or to tolerate the publike profession of Atheism or Blasphemy contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creeds they having been received by and had in reverence of all the Christian Churches and more particularly by us of England ever since the Reformation Next the Militia being that right which is inseparably and undoubtedly Inherent in the Crown by the Laws of this Nation and that which former Parliaments as likewise this hath acknowledged to be so His Majesty cannot so much wrong that Trust which the Laws of God and the Land hath annexed to the Crown for the protection and security of his people as to Devest himself and His Successors of the Power of the Sword Yet to give an infallible evidence of His desire to secure the
must be called in England and Ireland and that in the mean time for the speedy raising of money the Nobility Gentry and Clergy should subscribe what sums of money they would advance to this service for the present occasion till the King could be otherwise helped by Subsidies To this purpose the Earl of Strafford first subscribed twenty thousand pounds the like did the Duke of Richmond and the Nobility according to the several values of their Estates The Clergy granted four shillings in the pound in their Convocation which presently followed to be paid for six years together only the City of London were refractory and could not be induced to lend one farthing to the carrying on of that War By these Loans however of the Kings Loyally affected Subjects he was again in a formidable posture and the Earl of Strafford besides his own personal disbursments had procured four Subsidies to maintain ten thousand foot and fifteen hundred Horse from the Parliament of Ireland he had newly called for which he was honourably brought into the House of Peers in the Parliament of England whither by his Majesties call from his Lieutenantship of Ireland he was then arrived to assist the King with his prudent Counsels Sir Thomas Coventry Lord Keeper of the Great Seal dieth the tenth of Ianuary after he had for fifteen years behaved himself in that place like a wise and honest man Sir Iohn Finch Chief Justice of the Common Pleas succeeds him of whom more anon Anno. Dom. 1640. THe 13th of April this year being the 16th of the Kings Reign a Parliament was summoned at Westminster at the opening whereof the King acquainted them with the affronts and indignities he had received from his Scotch Subjects whom he spared not to call Rebels which was somewhat resented by the Members of the House of Commons who out of dislike of Episcopacie here did not much favour that War against them which by a nick-name was then called Bellum Episcopale Therefore upon the Kings desires to them for a supply of money by which he might be enabled to reduce the Scots they presently started their old grievances which caused a debate whether the King or the Subjects should be relieved first for so they made the Scotch War the Kings personal and distinct business This alteration and the apparent unwillingness of the House of Commons to advance any mony except their previous desires viz. of clearing the properties of the Subject and the establishing of the true Religion and Priviledges of Parliament were confirmed and granted by the King reduced his Majesty to a present necessity and dilemma either of complying with the Scots or to take mony as he could raise it by his own credit and Authority to subdue them for there was no hopes in the Parliaments delays And this was the true Reason of the dissolving that Parliament which happened May the 5th to the great grief of all good people who were sensible of the Kings difficulties and the approaching evils The Convocation of the Clergy sate at the same time and were continued beyond the Parliaments dissolution though contrary to practice and custom where as before is said they contributed and confirmed the Grant of the fifth part of their Ecclesiastical Livings for six years towards the carrying on of the War against the Scots I may not omit the concession of the King in this affair to the Parliament wherein he offered upon the granting of him some Subsidies to remit and acquit his claim of Ship-mony and other advantages of his Prerogative At this Convocation some new Canons were made with Salvoes and dispensations for some which had been strictly heretofore enjoyned but especially and mainly for Episcopacie and the Doctrine of the Church of England in opposition to Popery was hereby established by the Oath of c. As likewise in opposition to the Scotch Covenant This Convocation ended May 29. none dissenting but Dr. Goodman Bishop of Glocester who since died a Roman Catholique and owned that faith As a testimony of the sincerity of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the Protestant Religion I shall here insert therefore a passage relating to these Canons Upon the Bishop of Glocester's refusal thereof the Arch-Bishop would have proceeded to the Censures of the Church immediately and therefore gave him according to the Canons three admonitions one upon the neck of another that he should forthwith subscribe and if he had not been whispered that so weighty a matter required deliberation and distance of time he would there have suspended him from his Dignities and Office This Noble Prelate for these and the like vigorous actings both in Church and State fell into the obloquy of the male contents the Chief of whom were the Nonconformists then called Puritans who abounded in London the most whereof upon a distaste taken from the censure of Mr. Pryn Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton did mightily maligne him so that on the ninth of May a Paper was posted upon the Exchange animating Apprentices to rise and sack his house at Lambeth next Monday which they were the more forward to do because it was rumoured that he was the first instigator of the King to dissolve the last Parliament But he had intelligence of their designes and provided to receive them According to their appointed time in the dead of the night they came to the number of five hundred and beset his house and endeavoured to enter but were quickly beaten off and glad to retreat having in some measure vented their anger against him in railing and scandalous language such as the streets were full of before in scattered Libels and breaking his glass-windows The day following many of them upon enquiry were apprehended and imprisoned but three days after forcibly rescued from thence by their Companions who broke open the Prison-doors for which one Bensted a Sea-man was apprehended and hanged afterwards in St. Georges-fields and his head and quarters set upon the several Gates of the City The Scotch Parliament now sat again and were more violent in their proceedings than before for having notice of the discontents in England they presently advanced with their Army thitherwards about the same time that the Queen was delivered of a Son Henry Duke of Glocester of whose decease we shall speak in its place The King to be in a readiness to receive them had also appointed an Army of which he made the Earl of Northumberland General and the Earl of Strafford Lieutenant-General but the Earl of Northumberland falling sick he himself sent away part of the Army under the Command of the Lord Conway and advanced out of London with the remainder and came in person to Northallerton During his March the Lord Conway had but ill success He had drawn about 1200 Horse and 3000 Foot to secure the Passes upon Tine near Newborn So far was the Scotch Army advanced under the Command
some through fear others out of compliance with the major part agreed to the ensuing Articles which for an envious remark I have transcribed First That there be a Cessation of Arms both by Sea and Land from this present Secondly That all Acts of Hostility do thenceforth cease Thirdly That both parties shall peaceably return during the Treaty whatever they possess at the time of the Cessation Fourthly That all such persons who lived in any of his Majesties Forts beyond the River of Tweed shall not exempt their Lands which lye within the Counties of Northumberland and the Bishoprick from such Contributions as shall be laid upon them for the payment of eight hundred pound per diem Fifthly That none of the Kings Forces upon the other side of Tweed shall give any impediment to such contributions as are already allowed for the competency of the Scotch Army and shall fetch no victuals nor forage out of their bounds except that which the inhabitants and owners thereof shall bring voluntarily to them and that any restraints or detention of Victual Cattel or Forage which shall be made by the Scots within those bounds for their maintenance shall be no breach Sixthly That no recruit shall be brought into either Armies from the time of the Cessation and during the Treaty Seventhly That the contribution of eight hundred and fifty pounds per diem shall be onely raised out of the Counties of Northumberland Westmerland and the Bishoprick and the Town of Newcastle and that the not payment thereof shall be no breach of the Treaty but the Counties and Towns shall be left to the Scots power to raise the same but not to exceed the sum agreed upon unless it be for charges of driving to be set by a Prizer of the forage Eighthly That the River Tweed shall be the bounds of both Armies excepting always the Town and Castle of Storkton and the Village of Egyshiff and the Counties of Northumberland and the Bishoprick be the limits within which the Scotish Army is to reside having liberty from them to send such Convoys as shall be necessary onely for the gathering up of the Contribution which shall be unpaid by the Counties of Northumberland and Cumberland Ninth and Tenth Articles of private injuries Eleventhly No new Fortifications to be made during the Treaty against either Party Twelfthly That the Subjects of both Kingdoms may in their trade of Commerce freely pass to and fro without any stay at all but it is particularly provided that no member of either Army pass without a formal Pass under the hands of the General or of him that commands in chief This was the sum of that unlucky Cessation which was afterwards at London concluded in a Treaty soon after the sitting of the Parliament who in February next paid the Scots off giving them the stile of their dear brethren which much pleased them but the money which accrewed by an arrear of 124000 l. was a great deal more acceptable And thus with their pay and dismission out of this Kingdom I dismiss them for this time from any further Narrative and look home to our own affairs in England The Parliament sate down on the third of November and immediately fell to questioning several chief Ministers of State Bishops and Judges pretending thereby both to satisfie this Nation and the Scots Monopolies also were voted down and much more good was promised and expected from the Parliament The principal of those Grandees that were accused was the Earl of Strafford against whom Mr. Pym is sent from the Commons to the Lords with an Impeachment of High Treason whereupon he was sequestred from sitting as a Peer and his Privado Sir George Ratcliff was sent for out of Ireland by a Serjeant at Arms. Soon after the aforesaid Earl was committed to the Usher of the Black Rod and so to the Tower in order to his ensuing Tryal yet he obtained the assignation of Councel and a Sollicitor for the better managing his defence The Bishop of Lincoln contrariwise was released out of the Tower and Mr. Pryn Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton returned from their kind of banishment in great pomp and bravery attended by many hundreds on Horseback with boughs in their hands to London for the Tide was turned and ran strong the other way In the interim the Lord Keeper Finch and Sir Francis Windebank Secretary of State both charged with no less than High Treason wisely withdrew themselves into Forein parts and weathered the storm that would have sunk them One Iohn Iames the Son of Sir Henry Iames of Feversham in Kent and of the Romish Religion audaciously adventured to stab Mr. Howard a Justice of Peace in Westminster-Hall the said Mr. Howard being about to deliver to the Committee for Religion a Catalogue of such Recusants as were within his liberty The House of Commons now Voted the Assesment of Ship-mony about which there had been so much ado and so many contests together with the Opinions of the Judges and the Writs for it and the judgment of the Exchequer against Mr. Hambden to be all illegal and the Arguments of the two Justices Crook and Hutton shewing the illegality thereof to be Printed and also ordered a Charge of High-Treason to be drawn up against eight others of the Judges Which business of Ship-money being made so accessary to our ensuing Troubles I have thought fit to insert these Records concerning the same The Case as it was stated by the King to the Judges CHARLES REX WHen the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger Whether may not the King by Writ under the Great Seal of England command all the Subjects in this Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victual and Munition and for such a time as he shall think sit for the defence and safeguard of the Kingdom from such danger and peril and by Law compel the doing thereof in case of refusal and refractoriness And whether in such cases the King is not sole Iudge both of the danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided Their Opinions MAy it please your most excellent Majesty we have according to your Majesties command severally and every man by himself and all of us together taken into serious consideration the Case and Questions signed by your Majesty and enclosed in your Letter And we are of opinion that when the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger your Majesty may by Writ under the great Seal of England command all the Subjects of this your Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such a number of Ships with men victual and munition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the defence and safeguard from such a danger and peril and that by law your Majesty may compel the doing thereof
in case of refusal or refractoriness And we are also of opinion that in such case your Majesty is sole Iudge both of the danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided This was signed by all the Judges but Justice Hutton and Justice Crook whose Arguments were against it for Mr. Hambden who was sued for not paying the Twenty Shillings Taxed upon him for Shipmoney DEcember 27th 1640. Resolved by the Commons that the Charge impos'd upon the subjects for the providing and furnishing of Ships and the A●●esments for that purpose commonly called Shipmoney are against the Laws of the Realm the Subjects right of property and contrary to former resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right Resolved That the Extrajudicial opinions of the Iudges published in the Star-chamber and inrolled in the Courts of Westminster are in whole and in every part of them against the Laws of the Realm the Liberty of the Subject c. This was also so resolved by the Lords and by the Parliament ordered That a Vacat be brought into the Parliament-house of all those Records concerning Ship-money Which was accordingly done February 27. the same Year the 16 of the King Die Veneris 26 die Februarii 1640. UPon the report of the right honourable the Lords Committees appointed to consider of the way of vacating of the Iudgment in the Exchequer concerning Shipmoney It was ordered by the Lords spiritual and temporal in the High Court of Parliament assembled that the Lord Keeper or the Master of the Rolls the two Lord chief Iustices and the Lord chief Baron and likewise the chief Clerk of the Star-chamber shall bring into the Vpper House of Parliament the Record in the Exchequer of the Iudgment in Mr. Hambdens case concerning Shipmoney and also the several Rolls in each several Court of the Kings-Bench Common-Pleas Exchequer Star-chamber and Chancery wherein the Iudges extrajudicial Opinions in the Cases made touching Shipmoney be entred and that a Vacat shall be made in the Vpper House of Parliament of the said several Records And likewise the Iudgment of Parliament touching the illegality of the said Iudgments in the Exchequer and the proceedings thereupon and touching the illegality of the extrajudicial Opinions of the Iudges in the said several Courts concerning Shipmoney be annexed and apostiled unto the same And that a Copy of the Iudgment of Parliament concerning the illegality of the said Iudgment in the Exchequer and the said extrajudicial Opinions of the said Iudges concerning Shipmoney be delivered to the several Iudges of the Assize And that they be required to publish the same at the Assizes in each several County within their Circuits and to take care that the same be Entred and Enrolled by the several Clerks of Assizes And if any entry be made by any Custos Rotulorum or Clerk of Assize of the said Iudgment in the Exchequer or of the said Extrajudicial Opinions of the Iudges That several Vacats be made thereof per judicium in Paliamento by judgment in Parliament And that an Act of Parliament be prepared against the said Iudgment and extrajudicial Opinions in the proceedings touching Shipmoney Vacatur istud Recordum Judicium inde habitum per considerationem judicium Dominor spiritual temporal in Parliam irrotulamentum eorum Cancellatur The two Iustices Arguments also against it were likewise Printed and published They likewise ordered a Committee to draw up a Charge against the Archbishop of Canterbury which was done and delivered to the Lords by Mr. Hollis which was seconded with another from the Scots Commissioners upon which he was committed to the black Rod and ten weeks after voted guilty of High treason and sent to the Tower The Parliament having thus removed these men and growing every day more and more upon the affections of the people they began to hammer upon the Bill for Triennial Paliaments which soon after passed both Houses and to the universal content of the Kingdom was signed by his Majesty for which the Parliament by the Lord Littleton Keeper of the great Seal gave him their most humble and hearty thanks Some former Overtures and Propositions had been made by the Dutch Ambassadors of a Marriage between the Princess Mary the Kings eldest Daughter and William Prince of Aurange which upon the arrival of the said Prince was afterwards accomplished being well approved of by both Houses by the lower whereof a Vote passed against Bishops temporal jurisdiction which was afterwards framed into an Act passed the Lords and was confirmed by the King who in all things saving his Honour and Conscience complyed with the desires of this Parliament Now came the Earl of Straffords Tryal which after various debates about the Place was appointed in Westminster-Hall the King Queen and Prince had a place built for them the Nobility had seats at the upper end of the Court the Commons in a Committee sate below several of whom as Mr. Pym Mr. St. Iohn and others managed his Accusation the Earl of Arundel was Lord High Steward and the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Constable The Charge or Impeachment consisted of Twenty eight Articles all which he so learnedly and warily answered defending himself with such sinewy Eloquence and warded the points of his accusation so dexterously that the Lords could not find the guilt which the Commons so highly exclaimed against as the greatest treason imaginable Among other witnesses Sir David Fowles and Sir William Pennyman appeared against the Earl the first of whom the Earl declared was his enemy and the latter a Member of the House of whom it was observed that having testifyed against the Earl he could not abstain from weeping Anno Dom. 1641. THe Commons seeing they could not condemn him by this proceeding they betook themselves to another by Bill of Attainder which conceding the matter of Fact sufficiently proved against him at his Tryal and by the Testimony also of the Parliament of Ireland who had prosecuted him there for the said offences condemned him as guilty of high treason This Bill stuck for a while with the Lords till the Tumults coming down and stopping their Coaches and menacing to post up the names of those who favoured him under the name of Straffordians with an impetuous cry of Iustice frighted many of the Peers to assent to the Bill which yet passed but by the plurality of seven voices against him No sooner was it past there but the Commons presented it to the King for him to sign who very much declined it but being over-perswaded by the dangers that were represented as inevitable consequents of his refusal and being also desired by the said Noble Earl himself to give the Parliament content though through the mediation of his own blood His Majesty after advice with the Bishops did pass that fatal Bill which proved the Ax against his own life I cannot pass the Tragedy of
departed a contented King from a contented people The Parliament at Westminster had scarce yet sat in a full House from their Adjournment curiously prying into the Errors and male-Administration of the Government here but the fearful news came of a horrid Rebellion broke forth in Ireland It seems no sooner that careful diligent eye of the Earl of Strafford was first distorted by the Scotch affairs and after put out and extinguished by the English envy but the Irish resumed their wonted desires after liberty which they never yet attempted upon a less foundation than a total Massacre and utter extirpation of the English in that Kingdom so that in effect however the Parliament threw the odium of that Rebellion there upon the King Questionless it can be no where imputable ab extra from without but from their unwarrantable proceeding against the said Earl whose name and presence alone would have been sufficient to have prevented it or his wisdom and power able to have suppressed it This affrighting news when the Kingdom was already in a trepidation labouring with its own fears and pretended dangers soon brought the King from Scotland with all possible haste to London where notwithstanding those troubles he was most welcomly and as magnificently entertained the Citizens on Horseback with Gold-chains and in their several Liveries in Rayles placed along the streets chearfully receiving him the sober part of the Nation not valuing the Irish troubles if the King and his Parliament should but happily agree if the breaches could be but closed here there was no doubt of stanching the wound there But it was otherwise meant by the faction who added that conflagration as fuel to this suggesting to the multitude that what was acted against the Protestants there was likewise intended to be put in Execution here the Authors of one being also so of the other sinisterly traducing the King as inclining to Popery which they point-blank charged upon the Archbishop of Canterbury which imputation diffused it self afterwards upon the whole Order This torrent of the multitude was swelled so high even at this reception of the King that one Walker an Iron-monger as his Majesty passed from Guild-Hall where he was most sumptuously feasted at the City-charge Sir Richard Gurney being then Mayor threw into his Coach a scandalous Libel Intituled To your Tents O Israel which indignity the King complained of and thereupon Walker was put in Prison yet afterwards he Libelled a great deal worse both in Press and Pulpit But since the settlement of the Church he procured a lawful Ordination I mention this man as the shame of that zealotry which so furiously commenced this unnatural War The first business transacted with the King by the two Houses was an account of the Irish Rebellion the King having acquainted them in a short Speech of his composure of the Scotch troubles and soon after conjuring them to joyn with him in the speedy suppressing of the Irish whose dangers grew every day greater Iobs Messengers perpetually bringing over worser and worser news from that Kingdom where most of the Nobility were confederated in that horrid revolt having made Sir Phelim Oneal the chief of the family of Tyrone the late famous Rebel there in the latter part of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth and bred in Lincolns-Inn and then a Protestant but turned a bloody Papist though a most sneaking and silly Coward the supreme Commander of their Forces which then were raised in great numbers throughout all the Provinces Deep waters run stillest and with the least noise so was it with this Plot. It was very strange that a designe of such vastness of so great mischief and horrour should be concealed among a multitude that were concerned in it But this devilish secrecy was imputable onely to the ancient irreconciliable malice of the Irish against the English whose yoke sundry times they had attempted to shake off not for any oppression they were under but out of a natural desire of being Lords and Masters of their own liberty But nevertheless it pleased God that it came in the very nick of the execution of their Plot to be revealed by one of that Nation or otherwise that Kingdom had been in danger to be lost as Sicily was from the French by a sudden massacre The chief Instrument in carrying on this horrible Plot was one Roger Moor descended of an ancient Irish family but allyed to most of the Gentlemen of the English Pale He made several journeys into all the four Provinces of this Kingdom communicating his intelligences from forrain Popish Courts and the transactions of their Priests and Fryars there to the encouragement of this Revolt Another of the greatest confidents and complices in this designe was the Lord Viscount Gormanston of the English Pale which generally sided with the Rebels as being inoculated into Irish stocks and were Papists generally though against all opinion of the Council for that they had been such enemies to the Earl of Tyrone in his grand Rebellion But the menacing speeches and denunciations of the English Parliament against Papists in both Kingdoms especially in this where they threatned a total extirpation cannot be denyed to be one if not the principal cause why they made this defection from their Country and Allegiance The 23 of October was the day pitcht upon for the general rising and the Lord Macguire Col. Mac Mahon Col. Plunket and Capt. Fox Hugh Birn and Roger Moor were appointed for the seizure of Dublin-Castle which would at once have done their work those persons with a competent number of men to their assistance came one day before to Town and had conference together at the Lyon-Tavern near Copper-Ally where one Owen O Conally an Irish Gentleman but a retainer to Sir Iohn Clotworthy was admitted and by Mac Mahon informed of the conspiracy After a large drinking to their next mornings success O Conally privily repaired to the Lord Justice Parsons to whom and Sir Iohn Borlace the other Justice the Government was committed after my Lord Straffords death The Lord Dillon was likewise named and constituted but to avoid the jealousie and grudgings thereat the King had disauthorized him and very disturbedly and confusedly by reason of the drink and his horrour at the story revealed the chiefest part of it It was thereupon advised by the said Lord Justice for a fuller and certainer account to send him back again to the said Mac Mahon commanding him to return that night again to him which he did from the said Tavern and company who would have kept him there all night by pretending to ease himself and thence leaping over a wall and a set of pales into the streets In the mean time the Lord Justice Parsons went to the Lord Borlaces house and there assembled a Council by the coming of Sir Thomas Rotheram and Sir Robert Meredith who resolved first to attend the return of O Conally who in his
Answer to their Petition for it and wishes them in the sence of those to apply themselves to the Parliament for the good of All. The King was now resolved since he saw how slowly the Irish business proceeded for the dispatch of that Rebellion to pass over thither and to that purpose sent a Message to the Parliament from York From which expedition they disswade the King and in lieu of using the Magazine of Hull for that service desire it may be sent to the Tower of London to supply that almost exhausted guessing indeed that the King intended to possess himself of it but they prevented him by Sir Iohn Hothams admittance into the Town standing affected to their Cause before the coming of my Lord Newcastle to the same purpose Thereupon they again petition the King in the matter of the Militia as to his Forts and Magazins inserting the old standing matter of Popery in relation to some Jesuits whom the King had reprieved To this Petition the Kings Answer was that he wondred why a Garison was put into Hull without his consent and Souldiers billeted without Law contrary to the Petition of right and that they could mention to him the transferring of his Magazine without reason or judgement he would know why he might not be thought sufficient to impower and intrust any person of unquestionable honour and worth with the custody of a Fort Town or Magazine of his own when they were so confident as to commit it without his knowledge or consent to Sir Iohn Hotham though he doubts not but it will be rendred to him when he shall demand it Hopes that they will not do in this case as they have done in the Militia petition him and make themselves the Carvers and tells them that if they attempt any thing herein without his consent he will hold it as an act of violence against him and so declare it to all the world For the Priests he refers them to the Law and their Sentence the time of his Reprieve granted them being expired But in that answer to his expedition into Ireland they court him there with a Compliment of their fear of the danger of his person besides the interruption of the proceedings of Parliament Though to the first they were more afraid of that force he should raise to accompany and attend his person and as to the second the distance lay onely in their averseness to an Accommodation until they were nearer in duty and affection the proximity of his person availed not but they would in no wise endure to hear of being governed by Commissioners in his Majesties absence because it was presumed there were more then enough of themselves already that looked like such things in his presence if not more Soveraign and imperious than such could be To this Reply the King rejoyns that he looks upon them as his great Council with great respect but also upon himself as not d●prived of his understanding or devested of any right he had before the Parliament assembled he called them by his Writ and authority to give him counsel but did not resign his interest and freedom nor will subject himself to their determinations nor hath he dissented at any time without his reasons given with candour and conscience and though a Major part may bind them in their consultations and opinions yet he holds himself free to dissent from them Anno Dom. 1642. NOw this great controversie of the Militia came to be decided and what had been bandyed with so many words to be summed up and stated in the case of Hull and the Magazine there which the King as before had refused to be translated any otherwhere than for his own accommodation in the service of Ireland besides the County of York added their instances to the Kings resolution requesting him as well for his own as the publike safety it might be continued where it was Therefore to end the dispute and ascertain the matter without any further contest the King resolved to go and possess himself thereof taking with him a Guard onely for his person which consisted of his menial servants and the Gentry adjacent thereabout On the 23 of April his Majesty came before the Town when contrary to all expectation especially of the King the enterance was denyed him the gates being shut against him as Sir Iohn Hotham then upon the Walls of the said Town peremptorily told him by Authority of Parliament by whose trust he kept it nor by any means after a long Parley and perswasion would admit the King into the Town unless under certain disloyal and undutiful limitations which the King so abhor'd that moved with just indignation he caused Hotham instantly and before his face to be proclaimed Traytor a name that stuck to him or all sides and was his Sentence long before his Execution and which in such very heynous matters not usual reached the life of his eldest Son also But because his late Majesties own Sacred Pen hath so compassionately delivered his story it will be rudeness to that blessed Prince and barbarity to Sir Iohn Hotham to rake further in his ashes than what we shall have occasion for in the depositing them after Execution The Duke of York and the Prince Elector Palatine were gone into the Town the day before and were now after some deliberation suffered to go out again who came to the King then in a very great discontent retreated to Beverly whence he sent Letters to the Mayor of Hull which signified to him his Majesties displeasure and resentment of the affront done him thereby also warning him and the Garrison which consist●d of a thousand men not to partake with Hotham but to lay down their arms and receive the King who would rather enlarge than lessen and diminish their Charter and Priviledges After this Message he likewise dispatched another to the Parliament requiring the Town and Magazine to be delivered to him and that his honour be repaired by some signal and remarkable Justice upon Hotham that injury so closely ●ying at his breast that till satisfaction be given him therein he can intend no other business whatsoever as portending those undutiful actions which afterwards succeeded This is saith he to make me worse in condition than the meanest Subject since I cannot enjoy my own 't is time therefore to examine how he lost them and to try all possible ways by the help of God the Laws and his good Subjects to recover them and vindicate himself concluding that if he fail in the reducing of the place he is the first Prince in Christendom that hath done so and prays God to bless him in these resolutions This was answered no otherways but by a Command to their Lord Lieutenant of the County of Lincoln to suppress all Forces that should be gathered and raised against the said Town of Hull and presently expedite the Ordinances of the Militia
Council attending him at York and declares that he will not require any obedience from them but by the Laws of the Land charging them not to yeild obedience to any commands illegally imposed by others and that he will defend them and all others from the Votes of Parliament Lastly that he will not engage them in any War against the Parliament except for necessary defence against such as invade him or them Then came out his general Declaration where after he had fully unmasqued the pretences of the Parliament in their project of Liberty and Religion he excites all his loving subjects according to their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to contribute their aid and assistance for the opposing and suppressing those Trayterous attempts of such persons as would destroy his Person Honour and Estate and engage the Kingdom in a Civil War D●claring that whoever shall bring unto him Money or Ammunition Horse and Arms for his or the publique defence shall receive 8 l. per centum interest to be assured out of his Forrest-Lands Parks and Houses And then issues out a Proclamation shewing the Legality of his Commissions of Array To all these the Parliament respectively answer justifie their proceedings and promise to use the money advanced for the Irish service according to the first designation of it though herein they failed abundantly converting the most part of it to their own use and necessities Though the Parliament was intent on the business of levying Arms yet several Patriots of both Houses did what they could to perswade to an accommodation amongst whom Sir Benjamin Rudyard was one of the chief who all along warned them of the miseries of a Civil War and what a shame it would be to them in after-times and so consequently to all Parliaments if when the King had condescended so far they should proceed to the effusion of blood upon so unnecessary a quarrel He dyed soon after the first blood was drawn and that speech of his on his death-bed is very remarkable Mr. Pym and Mr. Hambden the Grandees of the then Faction told me saith he That they thought the King so ill beloved by his Subjects that he could never be able to raise an Army to oppose them Which mistake of theirs cost many thousand lives On the contrary also many elaborate vehement Speeches were made by Mr. Pym and other Grandees to encourage the Citizens to stand fast to the interest of the Parliament and the City was not wayward to such councels Isaac Penington was Mayor a busie stickler of the Faction and many of the Court of Aldermen were little better affected the Common Council were generally of the same temper and indeed the greatest number of the people inhabiting the said City were alike disposed Now the Militia was on foot every where the Parliaments Cause had the precedency of affection their Ordinances being obeyed like Acts wherefore the King prohibited by Proclamation any Levi●s or Musters of his Subjects any where in England without his command and sets on foot his Commission of Array which the Parliament likewise inhibit to be obeyed any where but neither of them signified any thing to those that were bent and inclined to each Cause so that the preparations for War both of Men Horse Money and Arms went on very fast especially on the Parliaments side at London where all persons of all ages and Sexes contribute so excessively to the furtherance of the War that the sum which it amounted unto is almost incredible This money was borrowed upon the credit of the PVBLIQVE FAITH by an Ordinance of Parliament a name much adored then and as much contemned and hated afterwards The King finding how the pulse of these distracted Kingdoms did beat giving symptoms of some violent disease and distemper approaching redoubled his instances to the Houses for peace adjuring them to prevent that blood-sh●d now so threatning and imminen● and they reg●st the like entreaties and ●●●●●stations upon him but not bating an ace or receding a tittle from the●r 〈◊〉 Demands so that there was no hopes or likelihood of a Pacification Nor wanted there Artifices to uphold and maintain this Credit and Autho● 〈◊〉 which the Parliament had gained over the City their Purses and Affections they were told and that in solemn Assemblies that the evil Counsellors about the King intended the abrogation of their Cities Charter and if they prevailed would expose their Wives and Children to Rapine Violence and Villany and the wealth and riches of the City a prey to desperate and necessitous persons All which while they continued in the Parliaments protection they should have no cause to fear With these preparatory discourses and incentives the War was presently ushered in nay the Citizens were ready to court it as the certainest way of safety Add we also the encouragements of the Ministers of London to the other incitations who were so violent in their crying up the Cause that even meer Children became Volunteers forsook their Parents and followed the Camp Thither also are we now come For from the Kings leaving his Court at York with an intent to encourage his party in the Commission of Array and stitle the Ordinance of the Militia we cannot call his removes a Progress but Expedition and indeed it was a perfect War levyed though at such distances that the twilight of peace was preserved only by his hovering neer the Solstice of his Kingdom the midland without engaging the confines of their Association which if he had done speedily it is probable we had not seen that night of confusion that followed in his setting and declination His Majesty therefore having again called the Gentry of York together at rendezvous protested his unwillingless as well as unprovidedness for a War desiring if he should be thereunto compelled their assistance in the maintaining his most just Cause and then departed for Lincolnshire to Newark whither he had sent before his Letters Mandatory to my Lord Willoughby of Parham charging him to desist from raising levying or exercising any forces within that County by vertue of his Commission from the Parliament wherein nevertheless he had proceeded Here the King convened the Gentlemen of this County and made to them the like Protestations and having received some small supplies returned back again to York At the same time the Parliament were listing men apace and appointing their General and the Superior Officers of the Army His Majesty about this time meeting with some oppositions from the Earl of Stamford Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire for the Parliament was pleased to proclaim the said Earl and his adherents Traytors to the great dissatisfaction of the Parliament On the other side Insurrections happening in Essex the Parliament send down Sir Thomas Barrington and Mr. Grymstone to quell their Tumults where they seize Sir Iohn Lucas and his Lady at Colchester commit them to the Goale send his
the Army But the main was that they durst not offer to set upon or impede the King in his March the next morning but go away far enough from him to Coventry and thereby lost Banbury wherein was a well-appointed Garrison to the King which was a remarkable Trophee of his Conquest However both parties gave God solemn thanks on days set apart for their success and victory the Parliament adding other to their General for his valour and good conduct in that business and presented him with 5000 l. for a reward of his service On both sides were slayn here neer 6000 men as by the Country it was judged who had the burial of the dead On the Kings party were slayn of note the right Noble and valiant the Lord Aubigney who died of his wounds at Abingdon and was buried in Christ-Church Oxford Father to the most illustrious Charles Duke of Richmond the Earl of Lindsey Sir Edmond Varney as before and Colonel Monro a Scotch-man On the Parliaments side the Lord St. Iohn of Bletso who dyed also of his wounds Colonel Essex and Lieutenant-Colonel Ramsey all men of singular courage and resolution The Earl of Essex next day marched towards Coventry and the King by Ayno where his Army refreshed themselves to Banbury which was presently delivered to him and so to Oxford The King marching from Oxford was by the way to London met by Commissioners from the Parliament tendring Propositions and desiring that during the Treaty the Kings Army should march no neerer this way to spin time while Essex could recruit his Army Wherefore the King advancing from Colebrook came to Brainford where part of the Parliaments Army being the Regiments of Colonel Hollis Hambden and the Lord Brooks for a while maintained their ground stoutly but being over-powred some were driven into the River and there drowned and three hundred slayn among whom was Lieutenant-Colonel Quarles and as many taken prisoners This brought a general consternation upon the City of London all shops were shut up and all the Regiments both Trained Bands and Auxiliaries were drawn out So that the Earl of Essex had a most compleat and numerous Army of a sudden Hereupon the King presently marched away fearing to be encompassed by the Parliamentarians over Kingston-bridge which he broke down to stop the pursuit Essex made after him to Reading and so to Oxford where he took up his Winter-quarters The Cities of Winchester and Chichester delivered to the Parliament Marlborough to the King and the Lord Hopton armed against the Earl of Stamford several Towns taken for the King in the West others for the Parliament in the North. Cyrencester had been Garrisoned by the Parliament-Forces of Glocester being the mid way betwixt that City and Oxford Upon this place Prince Rupert had a designe though his march that way was given out for the regaining of Shudly Castle out of which Colonel Massey had smothered the Royallists with wet hay for afte● he had passed some ten miles beyond Cyrencester he suddenly returned back and surprized the Guards within two hours time became Master of the place putting the Earl of Stamfords Regiment to the Sword who made a stout opposition taking 1100 prisoners and 8000 arms and other provisions for War it being newly made a Magazine From thence the Prince came before Glocester summoned the Town and departed The Lord Brook and the Earl of Northampton were in Arms against each other in the Counties of Warwick and Stafford where several small skirmishes had been between them At last in March the Lord Brook came and besieged Litchfield Close Garrisoned by the King and as he was viewing the approaches to it out of a Window in the Tower a single Bullet from the Close shot him in the head through the eye of which he fell down dead nevertheless the siege was continued and the Close delivered to the Parliamentarians His death happened by the shot aforesaid on St. Chads day in whose memory the Minster from whence he was killed is called by the name of St. Chad he being the first Bishop of that See The Kings Forces under the command of Lieutenant-General the Lord Wilmot assisted with his own Regiment of Horse that of the Lords Grandisons and Digbies with Sir William Pennimans and Colonel Blagues Regiment of Foot and Colonel Vshers and Colonel Greys of Dragons took the Town of Marlborough defended by Colonel Ramsey a Scot and about five hundred Foot the said Ramsey and divers of the chief Rebels brought prisoners to Oxford all their Arms taken and four Colours and the Town Garisoned for the King This day paid success to the King also in the North where the Earl of New-Castle besieged Tadcaster a place well fortified and better manned the strength of the Parliament-Forces being summed up in this Town and Hull Several Assaults were made most part of that day and evening wherein several were killed among whom was Captain Lifter This resolution so discouraged the defendants that they Slipt away in the night to Cawood and Selby leaving the Town in a very tenable condition for his Majesties service Leeds stormed by the Lord Fairfax and a defeat given to the Royalists thereabouts and Belvoir-Castle belonging to the Earl of Rutland surprized for the King while neer the same time Colonel Massey played feats in Glocester-shire and Salisbury plundered by another party of the Parliaments Yarum-fight also betwixt Colonel Goring and General King against some Forces of the Parliament as Colonel Goring was conveying the Arms and Ammunition he brought over with him from Holland who had the Victory About this time happened a Skirmish betwixt Colonel Hambden and Sir Gilbert Gerrard at the Brill of which Sir Gilbert was Governour wherein about a hundred were killed and wounded of the Parliaments side the rest fled The Queen having taken Shipping at Scheveling neer the Hague in Holland on the 22 being met by the Earl of Newcastle the Marquess of Montros● and the Lord Ogilby she landed at Burlington-Bay where on the 24 came four Ships of the Parliaments who making several shots of cross-Bars against the house she was forced to rise out of her Bed and to get under a Hill to save her life and then was honourably conducted through Maltou and Norburton to York and from thence not long after to his Majesties great content who most entirely loved her as she him met the King at Edge-Hill After General Essex had recruited his Army with new supplies the first thing he attempted was the siege of Reading which being manfully defended by Sir Arthur Aston till he received a wound on his head by the falling of a Brick-bat and the relief brought by the King himself from Oxford being worsted at Caversham-bridge after ten days siege was yielded by Colonel Fielding then substituted Governour to the Parliament In the North things went something equaller then before on the Parliaments side Sir Thomas Fairfax had defeated the
refreshment there Marched the next morning being Friday with the whole Army to Reading where he stayed till the Sabbath was past and caused publique Thanks to be given for his victory About this time Sir Nicholas Crispe Farmer of the Kings Customes and a Commander for the King by Land and afterward by Sea commanding a Regiment of Horse had the Convoy of the Train of Artillery from Oxford to the S●ege of Glocester which he brought safely thither and quartered at a Knights house in Rouslidge near Glocester where he findes the best part of the house taken up by Sir Iames Enyon and other Gentlemen of no Command in the Army These Gentlemen chanced to miss some of their Horses out of their Pastures and suspecting the Colonels Souldiers very rashly demand satisfaction of the Colonel who refusing to draw forth his Souldiers upon Sir Iames his pleasure the said Knight departs and sends a Gentleman to him with a Challenge the contents of which was That he should meet him in a certain adjoyning Field with his Sword which if he did refuse to do he would Pistol him against the Wall Sir Nicholas accompanied with only one Friend within an hour goes to the appointed place where he findes Sir Iames and the Gentleman that brought the Challenge and desired to understand of Sir Iames the ground of his quarrel with him adding that his Command in the Army might excuse him from fighting however he was come with a Christian resolution to give him all reasonable satisfaction for what injury he had done of which he pro●essed to be ignorant Sir Iames replied he expected justice from his Sword and thereupon drew Sir Nicholas doing the like the encounter followed wherein Sir Iames received an unfortunate thrust about the rim of his belly and was straightway conveyed to the aforesaid house and within two days died On Munday the 2 of October following a Council of War sat upon Sir Nicholas but considering the provocations that were given him in his own quarters they thought it justice to acquit him from any punishment in that Court and referred him to the King who being informed of the occasion of their difference Sir Nicholas was admitted to kiss his Majesties hand and received his Gracious Pardon under the Great Seal Pity it were so worthy and learned a Divine as Doctor Featly should be buried in Oblivion though by the Parliament he was for some years in the Lord Peters House in Aldersgate-street London for opposing the strict Rules of the Covenant he was formerly Minister at Lambeth but his Livings were given away and his Books bestowed on Mr. White of Dorchester From Reading the General was received at London with great Triumph the Army Marching into the City and were welcomed especially the Trained Bands by their Friends and met by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at Temple-bar and the King departed to take up his Winter-quarters about Oxford This Expedition though not so successful as the Parliament voyced it yet buoyed them up in their reputation which was before very low so that soon after they came to ballance the Kings fortune which went less through the Confederation of the Scots who were then in preparation according to the agreement and Covenant entred into here to enter this Kingdom in assistance of the Parliament The King sensible of this and for practising whereof or at least intelligence with the main Agitators therein he in Ianuary sent the Marquess Hamilton Prisoner to Pendennis-Castle who had all along assured him to the contrary And being daily sollicited by the pressing miseries of his Irish Subjects who were not able to subsist longer under them to procure them some rest and respit from the violence of that Rebellion as also the better to withdraw his Protestant Army out of that Kingdom to his own assistance here against the Invasion of the Scots by the Marquess of Ormond his Lieutenant there concluded a Cessation for a year with those Rebels and then gave order that 3000 of his English Army should be Embarqued which soon after in November landed in Wales under the Command of Sir Michael Earnely a Wilt-shire Gentleman slain in the second Newbery Battel and Colonel Monk after the most renowned General Duke of Albemarl which being afterwards divided to make up several broken Regiments by Prince Rupert were rendred not so serviceable by reason of the change of Officers and parting with their old Comrades as they might have been had they continued in a Body together being most of them veterane and well-experienced Souldiers The greatest part of those Forces besieging Nantwich in Cheshire were surprized after a sudden and stout resistance made by Sir Thomas Fairfax who was sent thither with all speed to keep them from taking head in those Counties Among the Prisoners was this Colonel Monk who was sent up to the Tower of London where he continued a Prisoner in very hard durance till the War was near expired and then took a Commission for Ireland from which auspicious employment have sprung all his Heroick most glorious Actions towards the King and Kingdom But to give a more particular account of the War which was parcelled out into all the Corners of the Kingdom we must insert here other actions of the noble Marquess of Newcastle and those Forces which he sent the Queen upon her advance Southward to Newark The hot news whereof alarmed the Members at Westminster most of the Northern parts being already reduced for the King and these considerable places since the Battel at Adderton-Heath gained chiefly by the valour of Sir Henry Howard and Sir Savile who both lost their lives there and were interred together in York-Minster Howly House Tamworth Castle Burton upon Trent and Bradford yeilded to the Marquesses Forces Hallifax was likewise quitted by the Lord Fairfax himself with much ado shifting up and down with his broken Party and suffering Beverly near Hull to fall into the same hands until the Parliament sent down the Earl of Manchester to oppose this torrent of the Royal success who rising with his Associated Forces from Lyn which was yeilded to him September 16 part of which had toward the end of Iuly under the Command of Cromwel and Ireton surprized Burleigh House and Stamford and seized several eminent Gentlemen of those parts who were sent Prisoners to a new Goal in Maiden-street London Marched to the assistance of the Lord Willoughby of Parham then hardly put to it and who had lately yeilded Gainsborough upon Articles to the said Marquess of Newcastle And here I must not omit the death of a most eminent honourable person upon account of this unfortunate Garrison while in my Lord Willoug●bies possession Some of his Forces had surprized the Earl of Kingston Father to the present Marquess of Dorchester and brought him hither whence for better security of his person which was of great concernment to the Kings affairs
Religion While this Army was a modelling many disorders happened which retarded their settlement it was to consist of fourteen thousand Foot and seven thousand Horse and Dragoons effective so that the Spring was well advanced before they were in any readiness Therefore the Scots Army was intreated to advance South-ward with all speed to assist the Parliament in the mean time It is to be noted that the first contrivance of Addresses was from Oliver Cromwel who having by this Model and by a Salvo to him from the injunction of the Ordinance the Regiment of Colonel Leg which had been in some muttering and discontent against the Parliament conferred on him did as soon as he had Mustered them present a Paper to them wherein they professed their future adherence to the Parliament in all duty and affection as to the utmost hazard of their lives which Precedent and leading Case was followed throughout the Army and since throughout the Times The Scots we said before were sent for to march more Southward having left all things secure behind them save Carlisle which was then Besieged for Newcastle they had taken of which we must speak a little They had layn a long while for many months a close and desperate Siege to it where several Sallies and Skirmishes had happened it proving one of the hardest resolutest Sieges in the Kingdom all sorts of policy of peace and war by Treaty by Mines by Assaults having been frequently used but to little purpose the Inhabitants resolving never if possible to fall into the Scots hands But on Saturday the nineteenth of October all the Scotch Army furiously set upon the Town and having weakened the defences thereof both as to the Fortifications and the Garrison having made three breaches by their Battery and Mines after a tedious Storm they at last mastered it Sir Iohn Morley and Sir Nicolas Cole and Sir George Baker got to the Castle where being forced by necessity they came to a Capitulation which in Articles concluded a surrender on the twenty seventh of the same month The town being taken by assault was plundered sufficiently over and over again and thanks was given solemnly at London for the giving of Newcastle up to their Brethren of Scotland And very great reason they had to do so for the poorer sort of people had been almost starved for the last two years for want of fuel Coles having risen to the price of four pound a Chaldron never heard of before in London as to the half of it Sir Iohn Hotham and his son had been prisoners in the Tower of London since Iuly 1643. Now upon the new Model several of the old strains were heard as every Change began with Outcryes the noyse was justice now against Delinquents the Sword had glutted it self almost with blood now the Ax was to tast some of it but because of order it is fit to put Sir Alexander Carew in the forlorn of those men who on the three and twentieth of December was beheaded on Tower-Hill being condemned by a Council of War held at Guild-hall for endeavouring to betray Plymouth-Fort where he was Commander to the King This unfortunate person of whom something strange as to the business of the Earl of Strafford hath been said before was brother to the more miserable Iohn Carew one of the Judges of his late Majesty On the twenty seventh of December Sir Iohn Hotham received sentence in like manner for his endeavour to betray Hull to the King and for holding and maintaining correspondence and intelligence with the Marquess of Newcastle and others the Earl of Manchester and other great persons sitting in the Hustings Court at Guild-hall as Judges He would have evaded the Charge but he could not throughly do it and so mainly insisted on the great service he had done before at Hull when he might have expected great honour and preferment He also produced some witnesses of quality on purpose to take off the testimony of the Examinants against him but they were not received for sufficient His Excecution should have been on the thirty first of December upon Tower-hill where the multitude was assembled the Scaffold his Co●fin and Executioner was in readiness but as he was on his way thither a Reprieve came from the Lords for four days longer which the Commons so stomacked that conceiving their Priviledge hereby invaded they ordered he should dye on the second of Ianuary which was accordingly performed his son suffered the day before for the same offence and both of them dying with great reluctancy and reflecting upon the Parliament being assisted in this sad business with no better comforter than Hugh Peters In their grave we leave them with that most excellent memorial of them in the Kings book than which nothing can be more truely or pathetically said of them give me leave for an example to posterity to transcribe a Paragraph Nor did a solitary vengeance serve the turn the cutting off one head in a family is not enough to expiate the affront done to the head of the Common-weal the eldest son must be involved in the punishment as he was infected with the sin of his father against the father of his Country Root and Branch God cuts off in one day That which makes me more pitie him is that after he began to have some inclinations towards a repentance for his sin and reparation of his duty to me he should be so unhappie as to fall into the hands of their Iustice and not my Mercie who could as willingly have forgiven him as he could have asked that favour of me Poor Gentleman he is now become a notable Monument of unprosperous Disloyaltie teaching the world by so sad and unfortunate a spectacle that the rude carriage of a Subject carries always its own Vengeance as an unseparable shadow with it and those oft prove the most fatal and implacable Executioners of it who were the first employers in the service Less than this could not be afforded to this most notable passage of the times whose ill beginning with this man brought him to this ill and unfortunate end The Assembly of Divines Convocated by the Parliament had sate a good while in consultation of Church-Government and though they were forward enough to subvert what they sound standing yet by the interposition of more moderate and learned Divines who happened to be chosen among the rest such as Dr. Featly whom at last the Parliament stifled in restraint and Dr. after Bishop Gauden and others that speed was retarded but upon this request of the Parliament to the Scots for their speedy advance in exchange of mutual kindness they demanded the speedy settlement of the Presbyterian Government and that the Orders and Ceremonies of the Church of England might not be used in the interim in any of the Churches of the places where they should happen to quarter Presently upon the receipt of this Letter the
Volume as would scarce be imagined In the interim of this March Colonel Rainsborough who had beleaguered Wood-stock and attempted it by storm with very great loss it being manfully defended and as well fortified had it at last Surrendred to him upon such Articles as manifested the Governours worth and honour in the acknowledgments thereby given him from his Enemies The King foreseeing that Oxford was the next place which they designed not to make his own Court his Prison what ever should be done by his Enemies if it should please God to reduce him to that distress resolved to withdraw himself in time to the Scotch Army who as was reported and generally believed had given him some assurance that not onely his Majesty but all others that adhered to him should be safe in their persons honours and consciences in their Army yet not to lay more upon them having so much already I can hardly credit it The manner of the traverse of the King is thus related He went out of Oxford as Colonel Rainsborough informed the Parliament who no doubt were well acquainted with it before for they had no other means to be rid of the Kings instances for Peace of which hereafter together that continually sounded in their ears so neer hand than to have him removed from so neer a convenience of personal accommodation in the disguise of a servant to Colonel Iohn Ashburn●am who was accompanied with one Mr. Hudson a Minister who for his singular Loyalty and fidelity was intrusted in the menage of that affair and for which he deserves a better remarque than this Chronicle can contribute or set upon him losing his life afterwards in the same Cause in 1648 in the Commotions of that unfortunate year By his Examination upon this business it appeared that the King came first to Henly then to Brainford and so neer London removed back to Harrow on the hill there being a general Training of the City-Forces in Hide-Park whither the King was expected to come General Essex being them in the field and his Majesty almost perswaded to venture himself into their hands but other Counsels prevailing he departed to St. Albans and thence to Harborough in Leicestershire where he expected the French Agent with some Horse to meet him and conduct him to the Scots but he mssing the King went yet uncertain and irresolute what to do to Stamford in Lincolnshire and thence to Downham in Norfolk from whence the examinant was sent to the Agent and upon his return they three passed into the Scotch Army where for the present we shall leave him with this account of it from the General of that Army to the Parliament at London which imported thus much That out of a desire to keep a right understanding between the two Kingdomes he acquainted them with a strange providence with which his Army was surprized together with their carriage and desires thereupon That the King came the 4 of May in so private a manner that after they had made some search for him upon the surmises of persons who pretended to know his face yet they could not find him out in sundry houses Trusting to our integrity we are so far perswaded that none will so far misconster us as to make use of this seeming advantage for promoting any other ends than are expressed in the Covenant We do ingenuously declare that there hath been no Treaty nor Capitulation betwixt his Majesty and us nor in our names leaving the ways and means of Peace unto the Parliament of both Kingdomes And with such twilight of language concluded This was the happiest oportunity that ever offered it self to do honour to the Scotch Nation who had the Peace of three Kingdomes but their own particular glory at their sole Arbitrement and how miserably they abused this advantage and how they debauched their duty to their Prince and their reputation to the World we will not descant upon since the Parliament of Scotland in the year 1661 have so passionately protested against the conduct of this business and have exempted from pardon whomsoever shall afterwards be found guilty of this most base and disloyal usage of the King of which in its time Before this adventure which the King would have avoided if the insolence of the prevailing Houses at Westminster could have been by any means rebated his Majesty had courted the Parliament to a Peace by several Letters and Messages from Oxford the abstracts whereof it will not be tedious to recite The first of them was soon after the aforesaid overture from the Prince by the Lord Fairfax and was onely to desire a Pass or Safe-conduct for the Duke of Richmond the Earl of Southampton John Ashburnham and Jeffery Palmer Esquires for their journey and continuance at Westminster being furnished with such Propositions as his Majesty was confident would be the foundation of an happy Peace To this Address if I may so term it though the Houses thought lesser of it as appears by their Answer they retort That had his Majesties intentions been the same with his pretences and expressions a happy Peace had been settled long since That they cannot agree to his desires as to the coming of those Lords and Gentlemen into their Quarters in regard the designe for Peace may be of dangerous consequence That they are in debate of Propositions which they will draw up and send to be signed by way of Bill by his Majesty This was in December 1645. The Reader will excuse this retrospection because we will repeat this transaction in its own series To this the King ten days after replies with more quickening Language That his Majesty cannot but extremely wonder that after so many expressions on their part of a deep and seeming sence of the miseries of this afflicted Kingdom and of the dangers incident to his person during the continuance of these unnatural Wars their many great and so often-repeated Protestations that the raising of these Arms hath been onely for the defence of Gods true Religion his Majesties honour safety and prosperity the peace comfort and security of his people they should delay a Safe-conduct to the persons mentioned in his Majesties Message of the 5 of this instant December which are to be sent unto them with Propositions for a well-grounded Peace A thing so far from having been denyed at any time by his Majesty whensoever they have desired the same that he believes it hath been seldome practised among the most avowed and professed Enemies much less from Subjects to their King But his Majesty is resolved that no discouragements whatsoever shall make him fail of his part in doing his utmost indeavours to put an end to these Calamities c. And therefore doth once again desire a Safe-Conduct This would not do neither the King therefore aggresseth them anothe way and offers a personal Treaty ten days after His Majesty laying aside all expostulations as rather losing time than
contributing any remedy to the evils will not complain of their neglect of him and delays of Answer but sends these Propositions this way which he intended by the forementioned persons For conceiving that the former Treaties hitherto proved ineffectual chiefly for want of power in those persons that treated as likewise because those from whom their power was derived not possibly having the particular information of every several debate could not give so clear a judgment as was requisite in so important a business his Majesty therefore desires that he may have the engagement of the two Houses at Westminster the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland the Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council and Militia of London of the chief Commanders in Sir Thomas Fairfax his Army for his Majesties free and safe coming to and abode in London or Westminster with such of his Servants and Train not exceeding the number of three hundred for the space of forty days and after the same time for his free and safe repair to any of his Garrisons Oxford Newark Worcester c. which he shall appoint there to have a Personal Treaty with his two Houses to begin with the three heads which were Treated on at Oxford And for the better ingredience and expedition thereto will commit the great trust of the Militia for seven years into the hands of a mixt number of his own and their party and calls God to witness of his sincere intentions to Peace and adjures them likewise to the same To this he is instant with them for an answer and for the facilitating of the way to a Treaty and their better inducement without any expostulation which he says he purposely forbears he adds now more particularly and to the respective interests That upon his repair to Westminster he doubts not but so to joyn his indeavours with his two Houses of Parliament as to give just satisfaction not onely concerning the business of Ireland but also for the setling a way for the payment of publique debts as well to the Scots as to the City of London and others and resumes his desire afresh for a Personal Treaty and that they would accept of his former offers But the House of Commons resolved to keep to their first Answer not to treat but to send Propositions the main whereof was an absolute avoydance of the Kings concession as to the Militia which they would have solely vested in themselves and no other And to give colour to this unreasonable stifness and to obstruct a Personal Treaty they Vote how great danger there is already to the Parliament and City in the resort of so many Cavaliers to London and thereupon an Ordinance is made anew setling the Militia thereof and requiring them to provide for the safety of the City and to search for Delinquents and to expel them the Lines of Communication and then on the 14 of Ianuary returned his Majesty this Answer They repeated the innocent blood spilt by his Majesties Command and Commission Irish Rebels brought over and more with Forraign Forces on coming the Prince of Wales heading an Army in the West and Garrisons kept against them and Forces likewise in Arms for him in Scotland That for that reason until satisfacton and security be given unto both Kingdoms his coming cannot be convenient nor do they conceive it can be any way conducing to Peace that his Majesty should come to his Parliament for a few days with thoughts of leaving it especially with intentions of returning to Hostility against it And do note likewise that his Majesty desires not onely the engagement of the Parliament but of the Lord Mayor and the Officers of the Army and the Scotch Commissioners which is against the honour and priviledges of Parliament those being joyned with them who are subject and subordinate to their Authority They insist upon their Propositions as the safest and surest way to settle Peace as well in England as in Scotland of which Kingdom in his Letters he makes no mention In proceeding according to these just and necessary grounds for the putting an end to the bleeding calamities of these Nations his Majesty shall have the glory to be the principal instrument in so happy a work and they however misinterpreted shall approve themselves to God and man But what Before this came to hand the King sends another Message to know the reason of the detention of his Trumpet and farther offers the free and publique use of the Directory as commanded by the Parliament and then practised in some parts of the City of London to such as shall desire it and testifies to God and the World who they are that not only hinder but reject this Kingdoms future happiness it being so much the stranger that his Majesties coming to Westminster which was the first and greatest pretence of taking up Arms should be so much as delayed much less not accepted or refused But his Majesty hopes that God will no longer suffer the malice of wicked men to hinder the Peace of his too much afflicted Kingdoms From Oxford Ianuary 15. In the mean while some Papers concerning the Kings Transactions about a Peace in Ireland were published on purpose by the Parliament to cast a scruple into the minds of men as if while the King Treated he meant a new War by Ayds from thence and so to prejudice him in his peoples minds who began to murmur at the averseness and delays of the Parliament which news coming to the Kings ears he sends them a stinging and sharp Message which was the next day after he had received their Answer His Majesty thinks not fit to Answer those aspersions which are returned as Arguments for his not admittance to Westminster to a Personal Treaty because it would enforce a stile not sutable to his end being the peace of these miserable Kingdoms yet thus much he cannot but say to Those that have sent him this Answer That if they had considered what they had done themselves in occasioning the sheding of so much inocent blood by withdrawing themselves from their duty to him in a time when he had granted so much to his Subjects and in violating the known Laws of the Kingdom to draw an exorbitant power to themselves over their fellow-Subjects to say no more to do as they have done they could not have given such a false Character of his Majesties Actions That his Majesty with impatient expectation requires their Answer to his desire of a Personal Treaty as the onely expedient For certainly no rational man can think their last Paper can be an Answer to his former Demands the scope of it being That because there is a War therefore there should be no Treaty for Peace And is it possible to expect that the Propositions mentioned should be the ground of a lasting Peace when the persons that send them will not endure to hear their own King speak But what ever his success this way hath
hitherto been or how small his hopes considering the high strain of those who deal with his Majesty yet he will not want Fatherly Bowels to his Subjects nor will he forget that God hath appointed him for their King with whom he treats At His Court at Oxford January 17. 1645. This was well resented by the House of Peers but the averse Commons would hear them no more at their Conference than the Kings Messages wherefore the King plies them again with a large Message wherein he shows tha reasonableness and necessity of his desires for a Treaty His Majesty being resolved not to desist though his discouragements be never so many and great from his endeavours after Peace till he see it altogether impossible thinks fit to make this Answer to the Objections of his two Houses in their Answer of the thirteenth instant against his coming to Westminster expecting still a Reply to his Messages of the fifteenth and the seventeenth which he hopes by this time have begotten better thoughts and resolutions in the Members of both Houses And first as to the innocent blood spilt he will not dispute who was the Author of it but rather presseth there should be no more it being no Argument to say There shall be no such Personal Treaty because there have been Wars it being a strong inducement to have such a Treaty to put an end to them As to the next Objection of the assistance he had from some of his Irish Subjects he saith they are Protestants who were formerly s●nt thither by the two Houses and impossibilitated to stay there longer by the neglect of those who sent them thither who should have better provided for them And that for Forraign Forces their Armies have swarmed with them when his Majesty had few or none Thirdly to the Princes heading an Army in the West that there are divers Garrisons yet standing for him and Forces likewise in Scotland it must be as much confessed that as yet there is no Peace and therefore is this Treaty required But his Majesty desires it may be remembred how long since he hath pressed the disbanding of all Forces the refusing whereof hath been the Cause of this Objection As to the time of fourty days limited for the Treaty whereupon they infer that he would again return to H●stility his Majesty protesteth the sincerity of those resolutions he bringeth with him for Peace which if they meet with the like inclinations from them will end all these unhappy bloody differences To his requiring those engagements of the City c. for his security whosoever will call to mind the particular occasions that enforced his Majesty to leave his Cities of London and Westminster they will not think his demands unreasonable But he no way conceiveth how the Lord Mayor Aldermen Common Council and Militia of London were either subject or subordinate to their Authority there being neither Law nor practice for it and so not to be parallel'd That the breach of priviledge they mention is more likely to be infringed by hindering his Majesty from this Treaty As for Scotland and their Religion and securing the peace his Majesty conceives it was included in his former Messages particularly that of the fifteenth but his sincere meaning and endeavours are after it as he new expresseth himself for their better satisfaction Lastly he saith that there is but two ways of finally ending these distractions either by Treaty or Conquest The latter of which his Majesty hopes none will have either the impudence or impiety to wish for and for the former no better Expedient can be in the managing thereof than by his Personal assistance in it before which no Propositions can be effectual which will remove all unnecessary delays and make the greatest difficulties easie Wherefore his Majesty who is most concerned in the good of his people doth again desire a speedy Answer Amidst these importunities the King was not less sollicitous and instant at the High Court of Heaven having commanded a general Fast in Oxford upon Fryday weekly according to the laudable example of the Primitive Christians in which devotions another unhappy Cavil was raised against him by the intercepting or discovering of his Commission to the Earl of Glamorgan the Marquess of Worcester's Son impowering him to treat with the Irish for which he was afterwards impeached by the Lord Digby charged on suspicion of high Treason and imprisoned for a while but soon after set at liberty as having concluded a Peace against the Honour and Dignity of his Majesty and to his great scandal with his English Subjects of which said Transactions to wipe off the imputation laid on him thereby he gives this account to his two Houses And the words of this Prince are of such unqu●stionable credit and veracity that this affair needs no other defenc● which was this having intermingled therewith and subjoyned his former d●sires for a Personal Treaty His Majesty having received inf●rmation from the Lord-Lieutenant and Council in Ireland that the Earl of Glamorgan hath without his or their directions or privity entred into a Treaty with some Commissioners on the Romane Catholique party there and also agreed unto certain Arti●les highly derogatory to his Majesties honour and Royal dignity and prejudicial to the Protestant Religion there whereupon the said Earl is arrested c. hath thought fit to give this relation thereof to shew how contrary it was to his Majesties intention and directions the Earls Commission being onely to raise Forces in that Kingdom and to conduct them into this for his Majesties service and not to treat about any thing else much less about Religion or any propriety belonging to their Church or Laity That what the Earl did there came to his knowledge meerly by accident protesting that until the news of the said Earls restraint he had no notice of any Capitulation with those Rebels so destructive to Church and State and repugnant to his Majesties publique professions That therefore he is so far from considering any of those Articles framed as aforesaid that he doth absolutely disown the said Earl therein having given order to his Lieutenant there the Marquess of O●mond to proceed against the said Earl as one who either out of falseness presumption or folly hath hazarded the blemishing of his Majesties reputation of his own head c. But true it is that for the necessary preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects in Ireland whose case was dayly represented unto him to be desperate his Majesty had given a Commission to his Lieutenant to treat and conclude such a Peace there as might be for the safety of that Crown c. And yet if the Houses will admit of a personal Treaty with him at London and will send him a Pass or Safe-Conduct for a Messenger to be sent immediately to Ireland he will dispatch one thither to prevent any accident that may hinder his Majesties Resolution of leaving the Manage of the
Soveraignty but the difficulty of doing it in regard of those mutual distrusts that waxed every day stronger betwixt the two factions of Presbytery and Independency delayed a while the actual fruition of their desires The Bucket of interest went up and down a long while one side secretly closing with the King in a seeming tenderness for his Rights and Person to ballance the other who by an obstinacy against him and his Government engaged most of the first leaven of that tumultuous rabble to an adherence and strengthning of their party from an expectation of spoil and preferment upon their Models after their subversion of Monarchy In these their distractions the onely expedient for both was to protract time and await a more advantagious and favourable juncture for either of them wherein to compass and accomplish their several aims and divided projections upon the Kingdom Therefore the same publike ends and common concernments which were the pretended causes of the War were now declared to be insisted on as to constant and perpetual security viz. the Laws Religion and Liberty That the b●●ting the Enemy in the Field was not sufficient alone to that purpose but that some provision must be made for the future and that those establishments of the publike upon a firm Peace would require time after so many commotions and dislocations such disorder and confusion of the policy of the Government To this purpose the King was held out to his people as an obstinate person no way changed in his mind as to their good but that all his offers of Treaty and Peace were meerly to impose upon their credulous affections intending nothing less than satisfaction to his Parliament against whom he had waged a long and bloody War That in a just resolution they had proceeded and would persist on their way of Propositions on which alone a lasting Peace might be grounded and expected That in the mean time they would take care that the Common Enemy should take no advantage of raising a new War indeed their tyrannical method of Composition for their Loyalty in the first might well make them as good as their words And with the old flourishes of Liberty and happy times inculcating their Successes and ascribing them to their Cause they thus offered to amuse the people exchanging their fineness and smoothness of words for the real repose and tranquillity looked for by the Kingdom This proceeding highly exasperated the Kings party and as much encouraged the desperadoes of their own to claw them with Petitions and Addresses of Thanks for these resolutions proving the onely means to continue the rupture and consequently their Power and Authority which how then and hereafter they executed we will now more particularly relate having laid down these SEEDS of the SECOND WAR as they and from then their Sequestrators and Committees were most wrathfully pleased to call it when they wrongfully placed it upon their score and account These were the transactions and the devices of the English Parliament and Army it will be requisite to see what the same bodies of Scotland do in reference to the Peace of both Kingdoms and we shall finde them in as great a strangeness to it as the former and not with far different purposes and intentions For the Scots would have money in Coyn and Specie the other were for the value in great penny-worths and purchases of Delinquents Estates The Scots as was said before had the King in their possession a good pawn and pledge for the debt accrued to them before for the pay due for their service in England which being not over-hastily pay'd they quitted their post at the Siege of Newark and with the King marched Northwards bearing him in hand that they were his gude Subjects and would stand as far as 't was consistent with their Covenant for his person and interests As the Army marched so did the King making the limits of their Quarters to be his Court until by leasurable journeys and which were interrupted by several Expostulations Expresses from Westminster he came at last and took up his residence at Newcastle where appeared such a deal of Scotch bravery especially among the Commanders of their Army that the place appeared like the revived Court of King Iames after his assumption to the Crown of England Every rag worn by them being bought and purchased if so fairly come by with English gelt In the mean while the Parlianent were debating concerning the Person of the King but it was so ticklish a point that they agreed not to any present positive settlement or entertainment of it but negatively in signifying to the Scots that in England his Majesty might be disposed by none but the Parliament of England That their Army in England is theirs and under their pay and pretending the inconvenience of the great distance of the King from them as to obtaining of his assent and then the Covenant This begat in the King another meditation in his Eikon Basil. where he discourseth and deplores those events which put him to such a choice but resolutely fixeth himself on his own Honour and Conscience however it should please God to order this disposition of him in the Scots hands And contrariwise it raised in the faction Soliloquies and Charms which way they might extricate this puzling difficulty As the first expedient the old stalk of courting the Prince was agreed upon and therefore they sent a Letter to the Governour of G●ernsey to be conveyed to him At the Kings Arrival at Newcastle he was there received with all demonstrations of respect both from the Town and the Scots on the Towns part with the usual customes of Bone-fires and ringing of the bells and apprecations for his Majesties happy restitution and speedy accommodation with his Parliament on the Scots in a semblance of the same gladness and duty with protestations to the same purpose as the inhabitants wishes but which suddenly lost belief when their General signified by Proclamation not onely that no Papists or Delinquents should come neer his Person but also That although his Majesties Person were present yet all men whatsoever should yield Authority to the Ordinances of the Parliament A parcel of which Authority they themselves imitated laying heavy Assessments upon all the Northern Counties pretending the Parliaments negligence of their pay so that those poor people were ready to rise and free themselves from these oppressors having in vain Petitioned them at Westminster for relief which the Scots senting they privately sent for their Horse under David Lesly who had defeated Montross at Philipshaugh of which briefly before and driven him far enough into the High-lands to return to their main Army then at Newcastle to reinforce it and to secure themselves in their Quarters till the bargain should be made They at Westminster understanding hereof do resent this additional force of Scots and thereupon in anger Vote That this Kingdom hath no further
need of the Army of their brethren the Scots in this Kingdom and that the sum of one hundred thousand pounds should be advanced and paid to that Army as followeth viz. 50000 l. after their surrender of Newcastle Carlile and other English Garrisons possessed by them in England and the other 50000 l. after their departure into Scotland and order should be taken for the payment of their Arrears This was a good come on and a handsome induction to greater sums in the mean while the Scotish Commissioners with their Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile Dulci address themselves to the Parliament with their glozing oratory protesting the good intention of their Army and Nation and obtesting some speedy satisfaction of money that they might not be burdensome to the Country assuring them on one hand of their complying with the Parliament according to Covenant and offering something for the King too a la Mode the same Covenant like the man in the Fable that could blow hot and cold with the same breath But where so many words pass between buyer and seller a man may suspect little honesty or reason in either To confirm this their firm adherence in all fairness to the Covenant Mr. Alexander Henderson the Moderator formerly in that illegal Assembly at Glasgow in 1639. and Commissioner here in England afterwards a famed preacher Scholar and Presbyter was set upon the King at Newcastle whom the King handled with that acuteness both in private Conferences and Disputes as also in discussive Papers of the Controversies of the Discipline of the Church of England and so well plyed him his Majesties prudent and laborious undertaking of this person serving to stop the weaker yet more malapert assaults of his English Reformists who followed this grand Pattern by asserting the practice and universal consent of the Primitive Church beyond any private or modern opinion whatsoever that it is more than credible that Mr. Henderson convinced in his conscience of the errours he had maintained to the promoting of Schism and Rebellion from such a Church and against so excellent a Prince whose Learning Clemency and Courtesie were alike eminent not long after upon his return or rather sending home into Scotland languished with grief and anxiety of mind and with plain symptoms thereof and no other outward cause dyed Mr. Stephen Marshal another Presbyterian Minister and a famous Teacher of the Covenant was there also but the King would not be troubled with his discourses having such cause of offence at his prayers which made him afterwards wholly decline any intercourse with him the Papers wherein he had so rationally refuted the same principles with Mr. Henderson being publike and therefore he might well be disobliged from further trouble in that Controversie Nor were the disputes less between the Scots Commissioners and the Parliament which every day came in Print being politick subtile wranglings for nothing de lana Caprina each party endeavouring to cajole the other into absurd beliefs meer names of things and distinctions as the Person of the King c. wholly imploying those State-Logicians with whom Majesty and duty were non●Entia Into these frivolous jars Cromwel and his Army-Fellows put in their Pleas and suborned some serious fools to throw in their considerations of the matter which reflected bitterly on the Scots not by way of Reason but bold impudent aspersions and indeed as to them ungrateful and unmannerly dict●ries Those the Commissioners take notice of complaining to the Parliament but in vain the Independant party laughing secretly at the pudder they made for such trifles as Religion and Government which so forwardly and designedly they themselves had overthrown and aukwardly and scrupulously they would now seem to intend and establish It being generally received by them as proclaimed by others That all was but a Juggle and the conclusion credited that report Setting aside other punctilio's between them concerning Presbytery which now laboured grievously in the birth being ready for the Midwifery of an Ordinance and was hereby retarded A Proviso for Tender Consciences being to be added as a superfaetation of that Discipline by the Independents and rejected as an after-birth inlet and receptacle of all Heresies Sects and Schisms by the Scots of which there will be occasion hereafter matter of State shall be first related as coming first to the Kings consideration in the Propositions after ten months time sent to him by Commissioners while he was at Newcastle To omit also all their disputes concerning the obligations of the Covenant as to mutual interests and polity of Government whereby the one Kingdome might not act without the concurrence of the other insisted on by the Scots and waved by the Members because these shadows and the Covenant it self is vanished and the best friends of it would be loath to have these absurdities and clashings of the said League revived the Confederates as at the building of Babel such our after-Commonwealth being divided within three years time among themselves in the very language of it and some great promoters of it then calling it now an Old Almanack I say not to rake in this unconcerning matter which is intended to be forgotten let 's proceed onely with this due insertion of another matter That Cromwel seeing how the Scots drove at money for pay to ripen a division betwixt them and the Houses set Poyntz's Souldiery and Garrison of York where he was Governour to mutiny for pay and to force it as the Scots did whose example they pleaded and with the same blow to discard Poyntz first from the affection and then from the command of his Forces one suspected to be honester than the designes of the Army could suffer On the 11 of Iuly the Propositions were finished and sent to the King by the Earls of Pembroke and Suffolk Mr. Goodwyn Sir Walter Earl Sir Iohn Hippesly and Mr. Robinson who met on the way with a Message from the King to the Two Houses in answer to their demand for the Marquess of Ormonds disbanding in Ireland wherein he desires their Propositions as the readiest and safest way to gratifie them in that and other things conducing to the Peace of the Kingdom A little while before this also Monsieur Bellieure a French Ambassador being sent to accommodate the difference between the King and Parliament received thanks from the Parliament to whom he first addressed but the interposition of his Master was wholly denyed whereupon he did the like fruitless office to the King and having had some private Audience with him after many good morrows departed To keep a punctual account of the Prince his Son's peregrination the first forrain place we find him in is about this time at the French Court in Paris of which the Queen then there also gave notice to the King by Mr. Montril the French Agent residing there The Propositions sent now to the King were quarrelled at
the life of his Martyred Majesty exempting from pardon all such as had proved themselves zealous and stout asserters of the King and his Cause Sequestrations Bonds Fines and Securities abiding the rest as to the King himself they had left him nothing but the name and Title of Regality the honour and support thereof being quite taken away The rest of them were private reserves and advantages for themselves and their partisans and some relating to the Kingdom of Ireland such an unreasonable miscellany that the Scots for pretence of honour could not digest them but scrupled at most of them as they were framed at Westminster for some of the reasons afore mentioned but swallowed then and were satisfied at their delivery at Newcastle by the Solution of Two hundred thousand pounds when in a peremptory manner as will presently be related they told him he must assent At the delivery of those Propositions on the 23 Iuly the King asked the Commissioners if they had power to Treat who replyed No then said the King Saving the honour of the business an honest Trumpeter might have done as much I hope you expect not a present Answer to this high concernment To which they answered that their time was limited to ten days By which time the King having viewed them declined them altogether though hardly be laboured and sollicited on all hands to comply with them and put into the Commissioners hands a Paper containing offers of coming to London to Treat there which they nevertheless excused themselves from sending to the Parliament whereupon the King sent this Answer to the two Houses by a Messenger of his own The Propositions tendered to his Majesty by the Commissioners c. to which the Parliament have taken up twice so many moneths for deliberation as they have assigned days for his Majesties Answer do import so great alterations of Government both in Church and Kingdom as it is very difficult to return a particular and positive Answer before the explanations true sense and right reason thereof be understood and that his Majesty upon a full view of the whole Propositions may know what is left as well as what is taken away or changed In all which he finds that the Commissioners are in no capacity to Treat with him That it is impossible for him to give such a present judgment of and answer to the Propositions whereby he shall be able to answer to God that a safe and well-grounded Peace will ensue and therefore desires to come to London upon the security of Parliament and Scotch Commissioners where by his personal presence he may not onely raise a mutual confidence betwixt him and his people but also have those doubts cleared and difficulties explayned unto him which he now conceives destructive to his Royal power if he shall give a full consent as they now stand as likewise to make known unto them his reasonable demands which he is assured will be conducible to Peace c. and will be there ready to give his assent to all Bills for the security and stability thereof not having regard to his own particular Conjuring them as Christians as Subjects and as men who desire to leave a good name behind them that they will so receive and make use of this Answer that all Issues may be stopped and these unhappy distractions peaceably settled And postscribes that upon such assurance of agreement he will immediately send for the Prince his Son not doubting of his perfect obedience to return into this Kingdom This Answer had a various reception in the House of Commons it startled the Presbyterians as who found it difficult to effect their purposes otherwise than by and with the King it tickled the Independents who did all they could by thrusting in harsh words and terms to make the King indisposed and averse to all Both became very sensible the King was not the man they took him for but a Prince of prudence and resolution no evil Counsellors being to be taxed with the penning of this as their custom was except Duke Hamilton and his Brother the Earl of Lanerick both of whom were very industrious in perswading his Majesty to consent nay even better friends than they to the King who feared this peremptoriness of the Parliament would grow to somwhat worser were almost of the same mind as far as preferring the safety of his life would indulge such thoughts whom the Presbyterians saw there was no way but by strict and undutiful restraint to bend to their will and the Independents by treachery and barbarous villanies to break and utterly to destroy Most highly incensed therefore was the Parliament at this refusal of those means which they said their most elaborate prudence and diligent ponderation of every circumstance after so long a time conducing to the King and Kingdoms happiness had prepared and digested to such an equal temperament of the rights of the King and the people The King was scandalized and reported every where as obstinate and perverse while nothing but the ipse dixit of the equity justice or reasonableness of their Propositions was produced nor was the Kingdom at all satisfied with their shallow suggestions But this served the turn with those who were glad it should be so and gratified the Rabble and the Army who fearful of a disappointment of their shares in the Ruine of the Kingdom the hopes whereof had so long flattered them more especially by the better perswasions and irresistible Arguments of money they suspecting the Issue some while before prevailed upon the Scots reason and faith and honesty to Boot who were so clearly convinced of the Kings refractoriness to the Counsel of his Parliament in denying those Propositions that they would nor could no longer maintain nor abet such his persistency therein but would leave him to the disposal of his English Parliament having first procured from him an Order and severe Injunction to the Marquess of Montross to lay down Arms though in a probable condition of recovering his late Defeat and to accept such Conditions as he could procure for him which indeed were mean and full of secret fraud and revenge against that Noble and famous Captain He was forced in the disguise of his Captains habit at his prefixed time to put himself on board an old and leaky vessel designed for him by the Estates of Scotland but pretending want of Victual and other necessaries while the time of his embarquing and set sail for Norway where it pleased God he arrived in safety and after traversed much ground solliciting the Kings cause in several forain Courts where he refused all imployments intent onely upon his Majesties affairs and at last betook himself to the Court of King Charles the second but of that and what afterwards happened to this illustrious Heroe there is yet room for another Memento The Scotch Compact being concluded the Earl of Lowdon very fairly tells the King still at
Providence been pleased to favour the Arms of the Parliament by putting all into their hands they had con●ested for we shall see them putting all that under their feet trampling upon the King his Prerogative the Laws and the Subjects Liberty The City of London their great Magazine from whom th●● had exhausted so much treasure expecting now the replenishing of those veins and to see her Exchange filled straight beheld the whole Trade managed at Goldsmiths and Habordashers-hall Mortgages and Purchases of Land not Traffick and Returns from Sea busying and employing the Usurer Incredible is the mass of Money extorted from Royalists for Composition most barbarous and Italian villany to make them swear illegal Oaths such as the Covenant and Negative Oath directly contrary to that of Allegiance most pertidious and abominable Treachery to deny their Articles and by subornation and Trapans to justifie themselves and not sufficed with that to prosecute the innocent sufferers for their lives also as in the case of Sir Iohn Stawel and others whom they kept first in long durance seized all their estates and lastly arraigned at their pretended Courts of Justice Et quando uberior vitiorum Copia quando Major Avaritiae patuit sinus A heap of these enormities following thick upon the neck of one another will wholly take up the ensuing sheets Nostra haec farrago libeli Juven Sat. Prima This perhaps might be indured by Subjects from their fellows from the consideration of precedents of other the like Commotions especially from such starveling States-men as these but in prudential manners they could not be presumed to be more cruel to their Soveraign He had waged no War for the lust of any Favorite nor exercised any Tyranny over his people but had been defended and ayded in his just quarrel by the Noblest and most considerable of his Subjects not abandoned like Edward the second Richard the second or third but in the decay and decli●ing of his fortune more intently beloved by how much his vertues in such a fiery probation became more conspicuous and relucent But for all this he is treated by his two Houses as one of the worst and most undervalued and slighted of all his predecessors they vouchsafe not a thought of him but what 's scared with the jealousie of publike safety the main thing to be attained it is sufficient for him that he breathes the fresh Ayr theirs is indeed too hot and contagious While they thus neglect him we speak still of the Presbyterian party who had yet the Major part of the House and were sure of the Lords to concur with them the King by an Audacious Policy which puzled most men what to make on it is on the 4 of Iune late at night seized on by a Guard of 1000 men from the Army under one Cornet Ioyce a great Adjutator who being very importunate to speak with the King though at such an unseasonable time was at last admitted where he declared his Arrand was to remove his Majesties person to the Army for his and their security The King told him it was too late for that night but in the Morning he would speak with him Next morning the King arose early and had conference with the Commissioners who were highly troubled with the news but their Guards were not sufficient to maintain them in the resolution of keeping him onely General Brown offered to adventure but 't was concluded to no purpose for 't was not to be doubted that they who durst attempt so dangerous a thing had seconds neer at hand to reinforce them and the House was so guarded that there was no hopes neither of his escape so that the King went down into the Court-Yard and after some few private words with Ioyce asked the Souldiers By whose Authority they came thither They Answered From the Army He was instant if from Sir Thomas Fairfax his Army they continued From the Army His Majesty then replyed What if I should refuse to go with you would you compel me They Answered We hope your Majesty will not refuse but we have command to bring you His Majesty concluded I have these Questions to put to you which if you grant I will go with you First That he might have no violence offered his person To which they all together shouted and cryed None None Secondly He desired that his Trunks and Papers might not be rifled and tumbled here were parcels of his Eik Basil. and some other choice Pieces as was known since They promised to set a guard upon them and that they should not be touched Thirdly He required such servants to attend him against whom there were no just exceptions They Answered He should And Lastly desired that nothing might be imposed on him contrary to his conscience They Answered that it was not their judgment to force any thing against Conscience on any one much less on his Majesty Whereupon his Majesty took horse and was conveyed by them to the Head-quarters at Childersly where he was welcomed by the General but with greater Reverence and expressions of Loyalty received by Cromwel who now plaid his Master-piece of dissimulation professing himself a devoted servant to his Majesties interest and that the strangeness of this action of the Army proceeded of meer care of his person and out of respect to his Authority which they should equally assert with their own rights and the Liberty of the Subject against any persons whatsoever His Majesty then propounded that they would conduct him to Mewmarket the house he had formerly designed to go to there to expect what judgement or resolutions his two Houses would make of his Treasonable enterprise wherein though he dealt as warily with Cromwel as he did fallaciously with his Majesty not seeming to look upon it as so heinous a fact as it was yet he expected the Parliament if they were absolute and not awed which by this means would be experimented to call the principals and complices in it to a severe account and therefore reserved himself to Cromwel till he could thence judge of it hoping if the Army were masterless to make better Terms with them than he had yet hopes of from his two Houses and the Impostor did not stick to declare as much which was more manifest and easier of belief when all persons that were formerly of his side without any distinction were admitted his Chaplains suffered to attend him and the use of the Liturgy and Common Prayer publikely allowed him Upon the Kings first arrival at the Head-quarters the General sent to the Parliament giving them an account thereof but withal clearing himself from any hand in it and saying as much for the Council of Officers And 't is very credible he knew not who it was did it or by whose direction it was done but was informed by his Council of Officers that now it was done 't was very requisitely and oportunely done and it being the sence of the
having worried one another in this despiteful manner they fly as freely as if there had been no such quarrel His Majesty after several removes by direction of the Council of Officers was brought to Hampton-Court whither on the 7 of September the Houses having hammered out the same substance of the former Propositions into a new but stranger shape sent Commissioners to whom were joyned some Scots in the like quality from that Kingdom The names of both were as followeth the Earls of Pembroke and Lauderdale Sir Iohn Holland Sir Charles Erskin Sir Iohn Cook Sir Iames Harrington Major-General Brown Mr. Hugh Kenedy and Mr. Robert Berkley The preface to which Propositions omitting themselves as recited before was this May it please your Majesty We the Lords and Commons Assembled in the Parliament of England in the name and in the behalf of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland c. Do humbly present unto your Majesty the humble Desires and Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively unto which we pray your Majesties Assent and that they and all such Bills as shall be tendred to your Majesty in pursuance of them or of any of them may be Established and Enacted for Statutes and Acts of Parliament by your Majesties Royal Assent in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively And never a good word after To these his Majesty being accustomed to the unreasonableness of the men in two days returns this Answer For the SPEAKER of the House of Lords c. C. R. HIs Majesty cannot chuse but be passionately sensible as he believes all his good Subjects are of the late great distractions and still languishing and unsetled state of this Kingdom And he calls God to witness and is willing to give Testimony to all the World of his readiness to contribute his utmost endeavours for restoring it to a happy and flourishing condition His Majesty having perused the Propositions now brought to him finds them the same in effect which were offered to him at Newcastle To some of which as he could not then consent without violation of his Honour and Conscience so neither can he agree to others now concerning them in many respects more disagreeable to the present condition of his Majesty than when they were formerly presented to him as being destructive to the main principal interests of the Army and of all those whose affections concur with them And his Majesty having seen the Proposals of the Army to the Commi●sioners from his two Houses residing with them therewith then to be Treated on in order to the clearing and securing the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and the settling of a just and lasting Peace to which Proposals as he conceives his two Houses are not strangers so he believes they will think with him that they much more conduce to the satisfaction of all interests and may be a fitter Foundation for a lasting Peace than the Propositions which at this time are tendered unto him He therefore Propounds as the best way in his judgement in order to Peace that his two Houses would instantly take into consideration those Proposals upon which there may be a personal Treaty with his Majesty and upon such other Propositions as his Majesty shall make hoping that the said Proposals may be so moderated in the said Treaty as to render them the more capable of his Majesties fu●l Concession wherein he resolves to give full satisfaction unto his People for whatsoever shall concern the settling of the Protestant Profession with Liberty to tender Consciences and the securing of the Laws Liberties and Properties of all his Subjects and the just Priviledges of Parliament for the future And likewise by his present Deportment in this Treaty He will make the world clearly judge of his intentions in matter of future Government In which Treaty his Majesty will be well pleased if it be thought ●it that Commissioners from the Army whose the Proposals are may likewise be admitted His Majesty therefore conjures his two Houses of Parliament by the Duty they owe to God and his Majesty their King and by the Bowels of compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects both for the relief of their present sufferings and to prevent future miseries That they will forthwith accept of this his Majesties offer that hereby the joyful news of Peace may be restered to this distressed Kingdom And for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland mentioned in the Propositions his Majesty will very willingly Treat upon those particulars with the Scotch Commissioners and doubts not but to give reasonable satisfaction to that his Kingdom The Kings h●rping upon those Proposals of the Army acknowledging a greater equity and just mensuration and comprehensiveness of them and that they did much more conduce to the satisfaction of all interests and were a fitter foundation for a lasting Peace than the Propositions seemed very pleasing to Cromwel who complemented the King with the Armies glad sense of his preferring their ways and method to Peace before the Parliament's which would no doubt credit them likewise to the People not sticking to upbraid the Members with their disloyal and peevish carriage toward the King and yet secretly He enraged the Vulgar against him The Traytor yet knew that the King did but shew them Art for Art for that it was impossible to produce any thing out of that Chaos of their Proposals without a Divine Fiat which being made to serve onely as a temporary shift a bone of contention could not beyond the purpose of the Contrivers be durable it will be requisite therefore to take a short view of them that posterity may see what curious Legislators these Souldiers were and how well capacitated for Government Bless us from the Goblin this idaea of STRATOCRACY The first principle is the dissolution of the Parliament a preposterous beginning where Nature ends but yet not intended by them till they had served their own ends lust and ambition from whence these structures 1. That there be Biennial Parliaments and at more certainty than these 2. Each Biennial Parliament to sit 120 days certain afterwards adjournable or dissolvable by the King 3. This Biennial Parliament to appoint Committees to continue during the interval for such purposes afore mentioned in the Proposals 4. That the King upon the advice of the Council of State in the Intervals call a Parliament extraordinary with limitation of meeting and dissolving that the course of the Biennial one may never be interrupted 5. That a better rule of proportion may be observed in Electing all Coun●ies to have a number of Parliament-Members competent to their charges as they are rated to the publike that no poor Boroughs have any more Elections and that an addition of Members may be allowed great Counties that have now less than their due proportion and that effectual provision
performance of such Agreements as shall be made in order to Peace his Majesty will consent to an Act of Parliament that the whole Power of the Militia both by Land and Sea for and during his whole Raign shall be ordered and disposed by his two Houses of Parliament or by such persons as they shall appoint with Powers limited for suppressing of Forces within this Kingdom to the disturbance of the Publike Peace and against Forain Invasion and that they shall have Power during his said Raign to raise money for the present purposes aforesaid and that neither his Majesty that now is or any other by his Authority derived onely from him shall execute any of the said Powers during his Majesties said Raign but such as shall act by the consent and approbation of the two Houses of Parliament Nevertheless His Majesty intends that all Patents Commissions and other Acts concerning the Militia be made and acted as formerly and that after His Majesties Raign all the Power of the Militia shall return entirely to the Crown as it was in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King Iames of Blessed Memory After this head of the Militia the consideration of the Arrears due to the Army is not improper to follow for the payment whereof and the ease of his people His Majesty is willing to concur in any thing that can be done without the violation of His Conscience and Honour Wherefore if His two Houses shall consent to remit unto Him such benefit out of Sequestrations from Michaelmas last and out of Compositions that shall be made before the concluding of the Peace and the Arrears of such as have been already made the assistance of the Clergy and the Arrears of such Rents of His own Revenue as His two Houses shall not have received before the concluding of the Peace His Majesty will undertake within the space of eighteen months the payment of 400000 l. for the satisfaction of the Army And if those means shall not be sufficient His Majesty intends to give way to the sale of Forrest-Lands for that purpose this being the publike debt which in His Majesties judgment is first to be satisfied And for other publike debts already contracted upon Church-Lands or any other Engagements His Majesty will give His consent to such Act or Acts for raising of moneys for payment thereof as both Houses shall hereafter agree upon so as they be equally laid whereby His People already too heavily burthened by these late distempers may have no more pressures upon them than this absolute necessity requires And for the further securing all Fears His Majesty will consent that an Act of Parliament be Passed for the disposing of the great Offices of State and naming of Privy Counsellours for the whole term of his Raign by the two Houses of Parliament their Patents and Commissions being taken from His Majesty and after to return to the Crown as is exprest in the Article of the Militia For the Court of Wards and Liveries His Majesty very well knows the consequence of taking that away by turning of all Tenures into common Soccage as well in point of Revenue to the Crown as in the protection of many of His Subjects being Infants Nevertheless if the continuance thereof seem grievous to His Subjects rather than he will fail on His part in giving satisfaction He will consent to an Act for taking of it away so as a full recompence be settled upon his Majesty and His Successors in perpetuity and that the Arrears now d●● be reserved unto Him towards the payment of the Arrears of the Army And that the memory of these late distractions may be wholly wiped away His Majesty will consent to an Act of Parliament for the Suppressing and making Null Oaths Declarations and Proclamations against both or either House of Parliament and of all Indictments and other Proceedings against any persons for adhering unto them And His M●jesty proposeth as the best expedient to take away all seeds of future differences that there be an Act of Oblivion to extend to all His Subjects As for Ireland the Cessation there is long since determined but for the future all other things being fully agreed His Majesty will give full satisfaction to His Houses concerning that Kingdom And although His Majesty cannot consent in Honour and Iustice to avoid all His own Acts and Grants past under His Great Seal since the 22 of May 1642. or to the confirming all the Acts and Grants passed under that made by the two Houses yet His Majesty is confident that upon perusal of particulars He shall give full satisfaction to His two Houses to what may be reasonably desired in that particular And now his Majesty conceives that by these his Offers which he is ready to make good upon the settlement of a Peace he hath clearly manifested his intentions to give full security and satisfaction to all Interests for what can justly be desired in order to the future happiness of his people And for the perfecting of these Concessions as also for such other things as may be proposed by the two Houses and for such just and reasonable demands as his Majesty shall finde necessary to propose on his part he earnestly desireth a Personal Treaty at London with his two Houses in Honour Freedom and safety it being in his Iudgment the most proper and indeed only means to a firm and settled Peace and impossible without it to reconcile former or to avoid future misunderstandings All these things being by Treaty perfected his Majesty believes his two Houses will think it reasonable that the Proposals of the Army concerning the Succession of Parliaments and their due Election should be taken into consideration As for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland his Majesty will very readily apply himself to give all reasonable satisfaction when the desires of the two Houses of Parliament on their behalf or of the Commissioners of that Kingdom or of both joyned together shall be made known unto him This Answer was full and apportioned to all interests and shewed the incomparable prudence as well as invincible constancy of the King at which the Parliament shewed themselves much offended and communicated this their displeasure to the Scots Commissioners who participated seemingly with them therein but made no Reply to the King their custom being to set other Pens on work to discant upon them and pick out some jealous Observations to keep the people still to their party by bold assertions of His Majesties preva●ications and injustices in all his Papers and Messages to the Parliament some of them writ meanly scurrilously and impudently among the rest a most execrable and blasphemous Paper called a Hue and Cry after the King upon his flight from Hampton by one Needham that writ afterward the News-Book for them in others more modestly and politely with a fine but false edge which yet served to wound His Majesties Reputation
and to carve to the Grandees the spoils of the Kingdom which were to be secured by these misunderstandings But against these Writers there appeared a Champion of Loyalty Judge Ienkins who out of the Parliaments Wrath with the Earl of Cleveland Sir Lewis Dives Sir Iohn Stawel and others Royalists was Committed to the Tower and being brought to the Chancery-Bar refused to own the Court and the Authority thereof and so was remanded in Order to a Tryal at the Kings-Bench where in the me●n while he fully Answered all those Cavils against the King by Reason Law and from the Parliaments own words and Declarations ridling their nice time-serving distinction of the Kings Person and Authority his Politick and Natural Capacity to be a meer Fiction never heard of before and that their as bold assumption of the Kings Vertual presence in the two Houses was also and alike Treasonable as he cited in the Case of the two Spencers in the 7 of Edward the 2. from their own Oracle Sir Edward Coke in the 7 part of his Reports fol. 11. He then runs over the whole Case and state of the Question and Dispute betwixt the Royalists and Parliamentarians which being published incredible it is how greedily they were bought up and how many honest people undeceived so that His Majesties Cause was every where under the nose of the Faction well spoken of We will for the honour of that Noble person give this short and summary account of it as a Sea-mark to Posterity First The Royalists have aided the King in this War contrary to the Parliaments Negative Oath and Votes warranted by the Statute of 25 Ed. 2. ch 2. They have maintained the Commission of Array by the Kings Command against their Votes by the Statute of the 5 Hen. 4.3 They have maintained Arch-bishops Bishops c. from Magna Charta and many other Statutes 4. They have maintained the Book of Common prayer warranted by five Acts of Parliament in Edw. 6. Queen Eliz. for Libels against which and Church-Government some have been Executed 5. They maintained the Militia of the Kingdom to belong to the King from the Statute of the 7 Edw. 1. and many Statutes since 6. They maintained the Counterfeiting of the Kings Great Seal to be High Treason as likewise the usurpation of the Kings Forts Ports and Shipping c. from the said Statute of 25 Ed. 3. and divers others since and the practice of all times 7. They maintain that the King is the only Supreme Governour in all Cases the Parliament that his Majestie is to be governed by them The former's warrant is the Statute of Queen Eliz. c. 8. They maintain that the King is King by an inherent Birth-right by Nature by Gods Law and by the law of the Land These say that his Kingly Right is an Office upon Trust. Their warrant is the Statute of the 1 of King James and the 5 of Queen Eliz. 9. They maintain that the politick capacity is not to be severed from the natural vide Coke as before their Oracle who hath declared to posterity that it is Damnable Detestable and Execrable Treason 10. They maintain that who aids the King at home or abroad ought not to be molested or questioned for the same These practice the contrary Their warrant is the Statute of 11 Hen. 7. 11. They maintain that the King hath power to disassent to any Bill agreed by the two Houses which these deny Their warrant is the Statute of 2 Hen. 5. the practice of all times the 1 Car. ch 7. and 1 Jam. ch 1. 12. They maintain that Parliaments ought to be holden in grave and peaceable manner without Tumults These abet and keep guards of armed men to wait upon them Their warrant is the Statute of 7 Edw. 2. 13. They maintain that there is no State within this Kingdom but the Kings Majesty and that to adhere to any other State within this Kingdom is High Treason Their warrant is the 3 of King Jam. and 23 Eliz. 14. They maintain that to levy a War to remove Counsellours to alter Religion or any Law established is High Treason These hold to the contrary Their warrant is the resolution of the Iudges Queen Elizabeth and Sir Edward Coke 15. They maintain that no man should be imprisoned put out of his lands but by due Course of Law and that no man ought to be adjudged to Death but by the Law established These have practised the contrary in London Bristol and Kent Their warrant is Magna Charta ch 29. The Petition of Right 3 Car. and divers others 16. They believe what the Laws say that the King can do no wrong that He is Gods Lieutenant and not able to do an unjust thing These charge Him with the spoil and blood of His Subjects which false imputation was like the rest of their actions contrary to all Law Reason Christianity or Humanity This eye-salve made the wilfully blinde more peevish and fuller of smart and anguish so that they were resolved to have hanged him but he had so hedged up their way to it by upbraiding them with their former Illegal and Tyrannical Cruelty that they only kept him in a strict duress which was enlarged by degrees till the time of Restitution 1660 when he was in health and at perfect freedom He was a great stickler likewise in the Feud betwixt the Presbyterian and Independent siding with the Army and doctrinating them with the Principles of Allegiance which they pretended to and animating them against the Parliament by perswading them that all their Ordinances made for their Indemnity and Arrears were insignificant and invalid and were but so many blinds for the present and that their security and satisfaction depended wholly upon the King which designe of his in that juncture of time did operate successfully until the cause of the contention ceasing Cromwel having mastered and surmounted all the rubs to his designe the effect the ruine of both likewise failed Miserable now were the complaints from several parts of the Kingdom by reason of the burden of Free-quarter In the third year of King Charles upon the Expedition for the Isle of Rhee the Lords and Commons in their Petition of Right when not above 2 or 3000 Souldiers were thinly Quartered upon the people but for a Month or two complained thereof to his Majesty as a great grievance contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Realm and humbly prayed as their right according to the Law of the Land that he would remove it which his Majesty presently granted Yet now though the Country was ten times more oppressed no remedy could be had the Army under pretence of Lodging Fire and Candle taking all other necessaries for which if at any time they pretended to offer money yet durst none take it for fear of greater damage the spoiler being only triable by a Council of War This the Souldiers were taught likewise by their Adjutators to
actions therein The third was An Act whereby all Titles and Honour of Peerage conferred on any since the 20 of May 1642. being the day that the Lord Keeper Littleton deserted the Parliament and carried away the Seal were Declared Void And it was further to be Enacted that no person that shall hereafter be made a Peer or his Heirs shall sit or Vote in the Parliament of England without the consent of both Houses of Parliament The fourth was An Act concerning the Adjournment of both Houses of Parliament whereby it was Declared that when and wither the two Houses shall think fit to Adjourn themselves the said Adjournments shall at all times be valid and good and shall not be judged or deemed to end or determine the Session of this Parliament The Proposals were 1. That the new Seal be Confirmed and the old Great Seal and all things passed under it since May 1642. be made Void 2. That Acts be Passed for raising moneys to pay publike Debts 3. That Members of both Houses put from their places by the King be restored 4. That the Cessation in Ireland be made Void and the War left to both Houses 5. That An Act of Indempuity be passed 6. That the Court of Wards be taken away and such Tenures turned into common Soccage 7. That the Treaties between England and Scotland be confirmed and Conservators of the Peace and Vnion appointed 8. That ●he Arrears of the Army be paid out of Bishops Lands Forfeited Estates and Forrests 9. That An Act be passed for abolishing Bishops and all appendants to them 10. That the Ordinance of disposing Bishops Lands be confirmed by Act. 11. That An Act be passed for the sale of Church-lands 12. That Delinquents be proceeded against and their Estates disposed of according to their several Qualifications 13. That an Act be passed for discharge of publike Debts 14. That Acts be passed for set●ling the Presbyterian Government and Directory F●urteen of the 39 Articles revised by the Assembly of Divines Rules and Directions concerning suspension from the Lords-Supper 15. That the chief Officers in England and Ireland be named by both Houses 16. That an Act be passed for the conviction of Popish Recusants 17. That an Act be passed for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants 18. and 19. Against Papists for levying penalties and prohibiting the hearing of Mass. 20. An Act be passed for Observation of the Lords-day 21. A Bill for Suppressing Innovations 22. And Advancement of Preaching 23. And against Pluralities and Non-residencie With●l The Commissioners were to desire His Majesty to give His Royal Assent to those four Bills by His Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England Signed by His Hand and Notified to the Lords and Commons Assembled together in the House of Peers it not standing then with the safety of the Kingdom for His Majesty to do it otherwise to wit at London and a Bill to be drawn for such Letters Patents to be presented Him and then a Warrant to Edward Earl of Manchester c. whereupon a Committee shall be sent to the Isle of Wight to Treat with Him only It was not intended to shew these shapeless abortions of Laws but that they should have been buried in their Chaos yet being the though unprepared matter of this beautiful Form of the Kings Answer the darkness of the one occasioning and preceding the light of the other they are here represented in this unreasonable lump an● 〈◊〉 Nothing indeed shews them better or it may be said worse so that they 〈…〉 Paraphrase or Comment Give me leave only to insert th● Scots sense of 〈◊〉 Bills and Proposals The Commissioners of Scotlan● having understood the proceeding of the Parliament in the business now 〈◊〉 publikely protested against it here and immediately followed the Commissio●ers to the Isle of Wight where they likewise presented His Majesty with this Paper There is nothing which we have more constantly endeavoured and do more earnestly desire than a good Agreement and happy Vnion between Your Majesty and your Parliaments of both Kingdoms neither have we left any means unessayed that by united Councils with the Parliament of England and making joynt applications to Your Majesty there might be a composition of all differences But the new Propositions communicated to us by the two Houses and the Bills therewith presented to Your Majesty are so prejudicial to Religion the Crown the Vnion and Interest of the Kingdoms and so far different from the former proceedings and engagements betwixt the Kingdoms as we cannot concur therein Therefore we do in the name of the Kingdom of Scotland dissent from these Proposals and Bills tendred to Your Majesty Lowden Lauderdale Charles Erskin Kennedy Berclay This was the first equal and good Office meant the King though they had greater concerns of their own but it something served to justifie the King to His people in His refusal to Sign them The Kings Answer was as followeth For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be Communicated c. CHARLES REX THe necessity of complying with all engaged Interests in these great distempers for a perfect Settlement of Peace His Majesty finds to be none of the least difficulties he hath met with since the time of His afflictions which is too visible when at the same time that the two Houses of the English Parliament do present to His Majesty several Bills and Propositions for His Consent the Commissioners for Scotland do openly protest against them so that were nothing in the case but the consideration of that difference His Majesty cannot imagine how to give such an Answer to what is now proposed as thereby to promise himself his great End A Perfect Peace And when his Majesty further considers how impossible it is in the condition he now stands to fulfil the desires of his two Houses since the onely ancient and known ways of passing Laws are either by his Majesties personal Assent in the House of Peers or by Commission under his Great Seal of England He cannot but wonder at such failings in the manner of Address which is now made unto him unless his two Houses intend that his Majesty shall allow of a Great Seal made without his Authority before there be any consideration had thereupon in a Treaty which as it may hereafter hazard the security it self so for the present it seems very unreasonable to his Majesty And though his Majesty is willing to believe that the intention of very many in both Houses in sending those Bills before a Treaty was onely to obtain a Trust from him and not to take any advantage by passing them to force other things from him which are either against his Conscience or Honour yet his Majesty believes it's clear to all understandings that these Bills contain as they are now Penned not onely the devesting himself of all Soveraignty and that without possibility of recovering it either to him or his
Successors except by repeal of these Bills but also the making his Concessions guilty of the greatest pressures that can be made upon the Subject as in other particulars so by giving an Arbitrary and unlimited power to the two Houses for ever to raise and levy for Land and Sea-service of what persons without distinction and quality and to what numbers they please and likewise for the payment of the Arrears to levy what monies in such sort and by such ways and means and consequently upon the Estates of whatsoever persons as they shall think fit and appoint which is utterly inconsistent with the Liberty and Property of the Subject and his Majesties Trust in Protecting them so that if the major part of both Houses shall think it necessary to put the rest of the Propositions into Bills his Majesty leaves the world to judge how unsafe it would be for him to Consent thereunto and if not what a strange condition after passing those four Bills his Majesty and all his Subjects would be cast into And here his Majesty thinks it not unfit to wish his two Houses to consider well of the manner of their proceeding That when his Majesty desires a personal Treaty with them for the setling of a Peace they in answer propose the very subject matter of the most essential part thereof to be first granted a thing which will be hardly credible to posterity Wherefore his Majesty Declares That neither the desire of being freed from this tedious and irksome condition of life his Majesty hath so long suffered nor the apprehension of what shall befal him in case his two Houses shall not afford him a personal Treaty shall make him change his Resolution of not-consenting to any Act till the whole be concluded Yet then he intends not onely to give just and reasonable satisfaction in the particulars presented to him but also to make good all other Concessions mentioned in his Message of the 16 of Novemb. last which he thought would have produced better effects than what he finds in the Bills and Propositions now presented unto him And yet his Majesty cannot give over but now again earnestly presseth for a personal Treaty so passionately is he affected with the advantages which Peace will bring to his Majesty and all his Subjects of which he will not at all despair there being no other visible way to obtain a well-grounded Peace However his Majesty is very much at ease within himself for having fulfilled the Offices both of a Christian and a King and will patiently wait the good pleasure of Almighty God to incline the hearts of his two Houses to consider their King and Compassionate their fellow-Subjects Miseries Given at Carisbroke-Castle Dec. 28. On the third of Ianuary following this Answer was debated in the House of Commons And first Sir Thomas Wroth had his Cue set by the Faction to run high and to feel the pulse of the House which was uttered in this or the like Expression That Bedlam was appointed for Mad-men and Tophet for Kings That our Kings had carried themselves of late as if they were fit for no place but Bedlam That his Humble Motion should consist of three parts 1. To secure the King and keep him in some close Inland-Castle with Guards 2. To draw up Articles of Impeachment against him 3. To lay him by and settle the Kingdom without him He cared not what Form of Government they set up so it were not by Kings and Devils Then Commissary Ireton seeming to speak the sense of the Army under the notion of many Godly men who had ventured their Lives to subdue their Enemies said after this manner The King had denied Safety and Protection to his People by denying the four Bills That Subjection to him was but in lieu of his Protection to his People this being denied they might well deny any more Subjection to him and settle the Kingdom without him That it was now expected after so long patience they should shew their resolution and not desert those Valiant men who had engaged for them beyond all possibility of Retreat and would never forsake the Parliament unless the Parliament forsook them first After some more debate when the House was ready for the Question Cromwel brought up the Rear and giving an ample Character of the Valour good affections and Godliness of the Army argued That it was now expected the Parliament should Govern and Defend the Kingdom by their own power and resolutions and not teach the people any longer to expect Safety and Government from an Obstinate Man whose heart God had hardned That those men who had defended the Parliament from so many dangers with the expence of their blood would defend them herein with Fidelity and courage against all opposition Teach them not by neglecting your own and the Kingdoms safety in which their own is involved to think themselves betrayed and left hereafter to the Rage and Malice of an irreconcileable Enemy whom they have subdued for your sake and therefore are likely to finde his future Government of them insupportable and fuller of Revenge than Iustice Lest despair teach them to seek their safety by some other means then adhering to you who will not stick to your selves and how destructive such a resolution in them will be to you all I tremble to think and leave you to judge At the latter end of this contrived Speech he laid his Hand upon his Sword that Sword which by his side could not keep him from Trembling when Sir Philip Stapleton some while before baffled him in the House of Commons Now we discover these two Matchiavels avowing in a manner their ends and designes which they had hitherto cloaked by fair pretences to the King and charged upon the Adjutators And henceforward we shall see them using all manner of scelerate practises to promote their Conspiracie This bold Harangue and Menace so far availed them that the Parliament over-awed therewith after a long debate from 9 in the morning till night upon the first of the ensuing Votes the House being divided 141 Yeas to 91 Noes came to these following Resolutions the other three except the last being carried more easily They were prefaced with a short Declaration yet of twelve days deliberation dated the 15 of Ianuary in these words Die Sabbathi 15 Ianuarii 1647. The Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament after many Addresses to his Majestie for the preventing and ending this unnatural War raised by him against his Parliament and Kingdom having lately sent four Bills to his Majestie which did contain only matter of safety and security to the Parliament and Kingdom referring the composure of all other differences to a personal Treaty with his Majestie and having received an absolute Negative Do hold themselves obliged to use their utmost endeavours speedily to settle the present Government in such a way as may bring the greatest security to this Kingdom in
Lords and Commons c. That they are not satisfied in the Propositions made by his Majesty in his Letter and that a Letter be sent to the Commissioners in the Isle of Wight to acquaint them that the Houses do well approve of their proceedings and do give them thanks c. requiring them still to proceed punctually according to their Instructions The Sum of His Majesties Propositions was this He expressed his Consent to the Proemial or first Proposition of acknowledging his beginning the War that he might not by denying it be refused Peace but that his Consent not to be valid till all was concluded in the Treaty Concerning the Church he will Consent that the Calling and Sitting of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster be confirmed for three years by Act of Parliament and will by Act of Parliament confirm likewise the Directory for 3 years in England Ireland and Wales and the Form of Government by Presbyters for the same term Provided that his Majesty and those of his judgment and others who cannot in Conscience submit thereunto he not obliged to comply with it And that a free Consultation may be had with the Assembly of Divines in the mean time twenty of his Majesties nomination being added to them whereby it may be determined how after the said term by his Majesty and the Parliament the said Church Government and Publique Worship may be setled and the Articles of Christian Religion now delivered him may then be considered of and care taken for tender Consciences Concerning the Bishops Lands and Revenues and to the Contracts and Purchases of them His Majesty will Consent to an Act or Acts of Parliament for their satisfaction whereby the Legal Estates for Lives or for Years at their choice not exceeding ninety nine years shall be made of those Lands at the old or some more moderate rents which if it will not satisfie his Majesty will propound and consent to some other way Provided that the Propriety and Inheritance of those Lands do still remain in the Church according to the pious intentions of the Donors and the rest that shall be reserved to be for their maintenance His Majesty will give Consent for a Reformation viz. Observation of the Lords-day and such other things in these their Propositions as they have desired as also Consents to those Propositions against Papists But as to the Covenant his Majesty is not therein satisfied that he can either Signe or Swear it or Consent to impose it on the Consciences of others nor conceives it proper or useful at this time to be insisted on Touching the Militia his Majesty conceives that their Propositions demand a far larger Power over the persons of his Subjects than hath ever hitherto been warranted by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm yet considering the present distractions require more and trusting in his two Houses of Parliament that they will not abuse the Power hereby granted his Majesty will consent to an Act of Parliament wherein it shall be declared That for the space of ten years or during his Majesties whole Reign if they shall think it more satisfactory the two Houses shall have the sole disposal of the Militia and raise Mony as in their Propositions And that neither the King his Heirs or Successors or any other but such as shall act by the Authority or Approbation of the Lords and Commons shall during the space of ten years exercise any of the Powers aforesaid nor after that term without the Advice of the Lords and Commons And Consents to the entrusting the Militia into the Cities hands according to their Propositions Provided That all Patents Commissions and other Acts concerning the Premises be made and acted in his Majesties Name by Warrant signified by the Lords and Commons or such other as they shall authorize for that purpose Touching Ireland his Majesty leaves it to the Determination of his two Houses and will give his Consent as is herein hereafter expressed Touching Publick Debts his Majesty will give his Consent to such an Act for raising of Monies by general and equal Taxations for the payment and satisfying the Arrears of the Army and Publique Engagementss of the Kingdom as shall be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and shall be ordered by them or their appointment within the space of one year after passing an Act for the same His Majesty will give Consent that all the Great Officers of State and Iudges for the said term of ten years be nominated by the Parliament to continue quamdiu se bene gesserint and in the intervals of Parliament to be nominated by such as they shall authorize His Majesty will Consent That the Militia of the City and Liberties thereof during the space of ten years may be in the ordering and Government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council assembled or such as they shall appoint whereof the Lord Major and the Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be employed and directed from time to time by the Parliament And that no Citizen shall be drawn forth into the Field without his own consent And an Act be passed for granting and confirming the Charters Customs c thereof And that during the said ten years the Tower of London may be in the Government of the City of London and the Chief Officers thereof during the said space to be nominated and removeable by the Common-Council as was desired in the Propositions His Majesty having thus far expressed his Consent for the present satisfaction and securing of his two Houses of Parliament and those that have adhered unto them touching the four first Propositions and other the particulars before-specified as to all the rest of the Propositions delivered to him at Hampton-Court not referring to those ●eads and to that of the Court of Wards since delivered as also to the remaining Propositions concerning Ireland His Majesty desires only when he shall come to Westminster personally to advise with his two Houses and to deliver his Opinion and Reasons of it which being done he will leave the whole matter of those remaining Propositions to the determination of his two Houses which shall prevail with him for his Consent accordingly And his Majesty doth for his own particular only propose that he may have liberty to repair forthwith to Westminster and be restored to a condition of absolute Freedom and Safety a thing which he shall never deny to any of his Subjects and to the possession of his Lands and Revenues and that an Act of Oblivion and Indemnity may pass to extend to all persons for all matters relating to the late unhappy differences which being agreed by his two Houses of Parliament his Majesty will be ready to make these his Concessions binding by giving them the force of Laws by his Royal assent Though these Condescentions nor indeed if they had been to the very letter of the
the antient Glory and Renown of this Nation be not buried in Irreligion and Fanatick Humour and that all Our Subjects to whom We are a Politick Parent may have such sober thoughts as to seek their Peace in the Orthodox Profession of the Christian Religion as it was established since the Reformation in this Kingdom and not in new Revelations and that the antient Laws with the Interpretation according to known Practices may once again be a hedge about them that You may in due time Govern and they be Governed as in the fear of the Lord. The Commissioners are gone the Corn is now on the Ground We expect the Harvest if the Fruit be Peace we hope the God of Peace will in time reduce all to Truth and Order again which that he may do is the Prayer of C. R. With this his Majesties final account of this unconsummated Treaty I will conclude all his State-Missives and Papers the justice and reasonableness whereof no doubt will be so convincing that there needed no other Pen to assert his Quarrel As he was the chief Subject of this History so was he the Life of it affording it the greatest light of Truth towards its composition so that these his happy Labours shall perpetuate his just Renown and make his Moral and intellectual Virtues endure together enshrined in the hearts of pious Posterity To contribute whereto as far as my humble devoir would reach I have made these Collections and so with reverential leave to their blessed Author I proceed in this Chronicle In pursuance of that accursed Remonstrance presented the 20 of November aforesaid Cromwel drew the Army into the Suburbs of London quartering them at the Mews and at York-house and afterwards into London it self the General quartering himself at Whitehall to keep the King out in defiance of the Treaty with a resolution to awe the Parliament into a non-compliance with his Majesty whose great and most reasonable Arguments for a Composure and his un-exampled Condescentions in order thereunto they could neither fairly refel or honestly refuse But notwithstanding such was the justice of God in favour of his Majesties Cause that the Parliament who had so obstinately and dilatorily to the ruine of the Kingdom rejected all his other Accommodations closed with him now For upon the 4th of December the Question being put in the House of Commons Whether the Kings Answer was satisfactory or no though the Army-party argued that they were not satisfactory because the King had not granted all their Propositions in terms contrary to the nature of all Treaties where something must be bated on both parts and so kept the business in question until 8 a Clock at night next day being Tuesday the 5●h of December the Independents hoping by their usual trick to tire out the moderate Party it was then Resolved That the Answers of the King to the Propositions of both Houses are a Ground for both Houses to proceed upon for the Settlement of the Peace of the Kingdom This being carried Affirmatively and that so clearly that the House was not divided about it to secure this Vote and the earnest of a Peace a Committee of six Members was appointed to attend the General to keep a good Correspondencie c. but we shall now see Hell broke loose in the Armes Insolencies and Violence For these Caitiffs understanding the courage and honesty of the House resolved to play no longer with the weak Reed of Priviledge but with a bold Sword to solve the Oracle of their Villanies in th●s● ensuing complicated mischiefs To this purpose Pride Hewson and other Officers having had some Conference in Westminster Hall the Doors being shut with the Speaker sent in a Paper to the House of Commons Requiring the Impeached Members and Major-General Brown as guilty of calling in Hamilton to be secured and brought to Iustice and that the ninety and odd Members who refused to Vote against the late Sco●ch Engagement and all that Voted for recaling the four Votes of Non-Addresses and Voted for a Treaty and concurred in the Yesterday's acquiescing Vote in his Majesties Answers may be immediately suspended the House and that all such faithful Members who are innocent of those Votes would by Protestation acquit themselves from any concurrence that so they might know their own Goats and so be distinguished To this Paper they admitted no demur not caring for or not daigning them the consideration of an Answer but presently brought three or four Regiments of Horse and Foot and set strong Guards at the Houses-doors the Lobby-stairs and every where about the Palace admitting none but Parliament-men into the Hall where the said two Colonels and Sir Hardress Waller violently seized upon divers Knights and Burgesses of the Parliament and forcibly carried them away Prisoners others were by feigned excuses called out of the House and then pull'd away and committed likewise without any Warrant or cause shewn And though the House remaining sent the Serjeant of Mace to command their attendance when Pride would not suffer him to pass and sent likewise to the General about it declaring they would not proceed in any business without them yet the secured Members were still kept indurance while the Rump or Conventicle became of the Armies Complexion and so prevaricated and deserted their Fellows The Gentlemen thus detained were afterwards listed in a Catalogue by Hugh Peters and carried to a Victualling-place called Hell being number 41. where they were kept without Beds or other fitting accommodation all that night and the next day after a tedious attendance on the Council of Officers were committed Prisoners under Guard to two several Inns in the Strand Besides these the Belial Commanders standing several days with Lists of Names in their hands at the Parliament-door turned back from the House and debarred above 160 other Members besides 40 more who voluntarily withdrew to avoid their violence Most of those 41 Members were after much expostulation and their Protestation of this Force upon them and the Houses released Ireton insolently bidding them to look to themselves and to act nothing against the present Parliament and Army at their peril But Major-General Brown was sent Prisoner to St. Iames's where they would have put a trick upon him by a forged Letter brought thither and delivered him which he understanding their Plot would have publikely read as from the Prince The Messenger seeing his Project would not take threw the Paper into the fire and escaped as was forelaid He was afterwards sent prisoner to Windsor The remaining Juncto having met and conferred at Sommetset-house began to act at Westminster as a Parliament with whom some fawning Lords joyned and Passed an Ordinance Declaring all persons that had any way appeared for the King even by Subscribing to the personal Treaty should be incapable c. whereby the City could not find men to supply those Trusts and Places c. and
drain the Fountain of his Masters life and Honour * Sir Iohn Bourchier another Yorkshire Knight an Independent Mercenary who from the Crisis of their prevalencie workt for them and that he might not be out of the way when occasion should serve them diligently dined at Hell and to compleat his work consented to this Murther * Col. Purefoy a Warwickshire Gentleman and Governour once of Coventry a great Zealot against Crosses and no less against Crowns He imbrued his hands in the Blood of his Prince but could not tell for the ease of his Conscience upon his death-bed how he should wipe them * Iohn Blakestone formerly a Shop-keeper in Newcastle where pretending himself a Presbyterian while the Scots were there he was chosen Burgess for that Town and jugling a while among the Independent Faction learnt a worse Trade and the wicked Craft of King-killing * Sir William Constable a Yorkshire-man one who sold his Lands to Sir Marmaduke after Lord Langdale in the beginning of our Troubles but when the said Lord was made a Delinquent regained them for nothing was a great Rumper and at their hand for this Parricide he died Governour of Gloucester and a great Commander in the North. * Richard Dean Colonel and General at Sea where he was slain by a Cannon-shot standing by the Renowned General Monk his Colleague This person was formerly a Hoymans servant in Ipswich and when the War began was a Matross in the Train of Artillery and role to a Captains Command therein and was famous first at the Siege of Exeter being a cross Fellow was thought fit to be one of Cromwels Complices to execute his Plots against his Sovereigns life * Francis Allen once a Gold-smith in Fleet-street where he leapt into a pretty Estate by marrying his Mistress was chose a Recruit of the Long Parliament and adhered to the Juncto for their admission of him was made one of the Treasurers at War a Customer and had Crone-house given him and held it in Capite Regis after that Murther was made one of the Committees for sale of his Majesties Lands c. * Peregrine Pelham a Yorkshire Tike not of the Sussex-Family a kind of Governour of Hull after Hotham the dutiful carriage of which place taught him afterwards this Trayterous deportment in the High Court of Justice * Iohn Moor formerly Colonel of the Guards and had the benefit of all Passes from London * Iohn Allured a Souldier of Fortune promoted for his hand in this Villany to be a Colonel died just before his Majesties Restitution * Humphry Edwards a Member of the Long-Parliament discontented against the King for being denied by him a Preferment he deserved not which rankled and fe●red him into this malicious Parricide * Sir Gregory Norton a poor Knight one of the Pensioners to the King had Richmond-Mannor and House as good as given him for this Service against his good Master and Sovereign * Iohn Ven a broken Silk-man in Cheap-side made Governour of Windsor-Castle in the beginning of the War and had other profits and emoluments It is credibly reported that he hanged himself certain it is he died strangely and suddenly * Thomas Andrews a Linnen-draper in London afterwards a Treasurer for the Guild-hall Plate and Receiver for the Army he afterwards proclaimed the Act against Kingly Government and very narrowly prevented Justice * Anthony Stapely a Sussex Gentleman and Colonel and Governour of Chichester strangely wrought into this wicked Conspiracie * Thomas Horton a Recruit to the Long-Parliament of so mean and unknown a Quality before St. Fagons-Fight that that 's all the Character can be given him here * Iohn Fry another Recruit to the Long-Parliament a Yeoman and Committee-man of Dorsetshire he proved an Arrian in Print which Colonel Downs charged him with and so no wonder he that dar'd deny the Divinity of Christ was so cruelly Traiterous to the Majesty of his Prince * Thomas Hammond Son to Prince Henry's Physitian who most ungratefully and disloyally was the Kings Jaylor and verified that sad Presage and Oracle of the King That there are but few steps between the Prisons and Graves of Princes to the great trouble of his most Loyal and Learned Brother Dr. Henry Hammond the Kings beloved Chaplain * Isaack Pennington Lord Mayor of London two years together against the Kings express Command from Oxford a most implacable Rebel yet for all the spoil he got broke twice and hop'd to make good all by the death of his Sovereign since his Imprisonment he died in the Tower * Simon Meyne a Buckingham-shire-man of a good Estate but an illegal Recruit of the Long-Parliament a great Committee-man and Sequestrator of other mens Estates and being so initiated thought it no great matter to assist in this business of the Kings life since his Imprisonment he died in the Tower These of the Kings Iudges marked with ¶ are such as are in Prison in the Tower of London and elsewhere and are under Sentence of Death to be Executed at the pleasure of the King and Parliament ¶ Sir Hardress Waller a Souldier of Fortune once a Cavalier in Judgment then a Presbyterian upon the new Model an Independent where finding the uncontroulable sweetness of Pay and likeliness of greater Spoils he was hardned into this Conspiracie against the King and mastered his hopes of Wealth in Ireland being Major-General he was a prisoner in the Tower of London and confessed and deprecated his crime ¶ William Heveningham Esquire a Gentleman of the fairest Estate and as Gentile and Ancient a Family as any in Suffolk To keep ill Company is the way to be wicked Other causes and inducements to this horrid action are not publique and I will not dive further ¶ Col. Henry Marten Son of Sir Henry Marten Judge of the Perrogative-Court a most lewd vicious and infamous person who first spoke Treason against the King and his Family in the House of Commons and was in complement committed and suspended There was no question but he would act what he spoke when the power thereof was in his fellow-Traytors hands ¶ Owen Row a Silk-man of London a constant Commander in the Independent Militia thereof and so trained up to the perpetration of this wickedness ¶ Augustine Garland a Recruit of the Long-Parliament for the Borough of Quinborough in Kent in 1647. Chair-man of the Committee that drew up the pretended Act for the Kings Trial as rare a Blade as the worst of them at the spoil of the Kingdom a Lawyer and suspected to have spit in the Kings Face at his Trial. ¶ Henry Smith a Lawyer but a mean one of a fair Estate in Leicestershire 40 which was added as the hire of this villany a Six Clerks place in Cancery supposed to be drawn in and complicated in this Guilt ¶ Robert Titchbourn a Linnen-draper
the Execution of the like Condemnation as also did Sir Iohn Owen who with a Britain confidence denied every tittle of the Charge against him especially that part relating to the death or Master Loyd the Sheriff of Cardigan and came off with the same danger and the like success as the Lord preceding whose Fate being referred to the Parliament proved fortunate but by the decision of one Vote 24 to 24 being divided in the question of his life and as I Remember it was the saving double voice of Lenthall the Speaker Sir Iohn Owen was carried more affirmatively the rest all in the Negative being turned off with their Ladies and their Relations Petitions to the same High Court who to shew their civility more than their mercy were pleased to gratifie the Ladies with a respit of two days as long as their Commission and power lasted On the 9th of March the Duke the Earl of Holland and Lord Capel being guarded from Saint Iames's to Sir Robert Cottons House the next fatal Stage of late to the Scaffold were severally brought to the Palace-Yard through the Hall their Judges then sitting and looking fore-right upon their Execution The Duke ascended first and to give him his due he kept a good seeming decorum in his last words and actions The Earl of Holland succeeded to this bloody Theatre who very Christianly penitently and compassionately enough prepared him for his end justifying his honest intentions in that his first and last action for the King and intimating that Duty we all owed to our present Soveraign and so suffered for him But the Lord Capel like a true Christian Heroe as he came last so did he sum up all both in his Speech Countenance and Gestures that was good praise-worthy and generous in them both resolutely asserting his own actions his late Soveraigns Cause and his present Majesties Rights recommending him to his people as the great example of true English worth and as the onely hope of the Kingdom So as with Sampson he may be said to have done these Philistins more harm at his Death than in all his Life raising and renewing the desires of the people after so deserving a Prince This Tragedy being over they resume afresh the debate of what persons were yet within their Clutches any way obnoxious to their Cannibal-Idol of Justice who could not be pleased but with whole Hecatombs and therefore the Noble Sir Iohn Stowel and Judge Ienkins those Champions of Law and Loyalty with Captain Brown Bushell were next ordered to be put in that fatal List of Traytors against their Commonwealth the Marquess of Winchester and Bishop Wren who had lain prisoner from the beginning of our Troubles hardly escaping the like dangerous qualification which was upon a ●orged information intended likewise against Major-General Brown and Sir Iohn Clotworthy and to that purpose the Case of all those secluded and thereafter imprisoned Members was ordered to a Committee to make a discrimination of their offences and render those two the most liable to their severity As for those who had escaped their hands by departing the Kingdom they satisfied their indignation by a decree of perpetual Banishment and present death upon the return of any so sentenced The chief of these besides the Kings Majesty whom God long preserve and the Duke of York c. were the Earl of Bristol the Duke of Buckingham the Lord Digby Lord Cottington Marquesses of Newcastle and Worcester Sir Edward Hide Lord Culpeper Lord Widdrington and some others who were very well satisfied they could do no more to them and were then following ●he hopeful fortunes of the King The rest of that unfortunate party were put to Ransome a Fine being set upon their Heads proportionable to their Estates to be paid within such times or else to be in the same predicament with the condemned Having thus made good their Conspiracy or by them stiled Agreement of bringing Delinquents to Justice that the exactness of their dire performances might credit th●ir intentions and resolutions and make them seem to the Vulgar the most impartial lovers of their Lives and Liberties but rather of their Estates they proceeded in the political part of Government by filling up their Committee of Estates to the number of 41. who were ordered particularly to enter their Assent to whatsoever the Juncto had done in reference to the King and Lords before they should act in that Committee and Cromwel thereupon reported to the House being impowered by them that of that just number 22 had refused to engage as to what was past but would joyn with them for the future and acknowledge the Supreme Power to be vested in them There could no expedient be found to salve this sore so they were contented to cicatrize it and gently lay aside all disputes or further contrasts about it but though they past it without doors they would not so within but totally precluded any further pretences of the Members of taking their places in Parliament who in some numbers returned to Westminster for they Voted That all such as ●ad absented themselves from the 5 of December should not sit till further order which was never vouchsafed till such claimers had given evidence of their adherence and closing with them In this same Month to take away the same dignity and priviledge as the House of Lords was to them from the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen and to make the Government of London à la mode Democratical they ordered a Quorum of the Common-Council to act without the Lord Mayor or the said Aldermen if they should refuse to joyn with them and not long after to put another affront though distant some space of time being the 24 of March ensuing upon the Mayor they order him to proclaim their Act for abolishing Kingly Government which he disdainfully and generously refusing his Lady likewise not suffering their Messenger that brought it to drink in her House but bidding him return to his Masters for his Wages upon the report thereof by Alderman Atkins a Member of their House they Voted him Imprisonment in the Tower for two Months and to be degraded of his Honour and disfranchised and to pay 2000 l. to be distributed among the Poor of Westminster the Hamlets and Southwark which was rigidly levied and Alderman Andrews one of the Kings Judges was Elected in his place for whose choice at his presentment for their approbation the House gave the City thanks and ordered the Barons of the Exchequer to swear him in these words That he should be faithful to the Commonwealth as it was now established in the Government of the City where he in state Proclaimed the said Act though the people hooted and reviled it and cryed aloud God save the King and would have made worse work but that the Guards of Horse awed them Alderman Sir Thomas Soams and Alderman Chambers for absenting themselves and justifying their conscientious refusal
those overtures of his were not approved of to demand his Pass that he might leave the Kingdom but what he propounded was so plausible that in case Money and Arms could be had in time and in proportion to what he demanded as the infection of Galloway out of which Town chiefly both were to be had made it very difficult they judged it a very likely Expedition Whereupon the Lord Clanrickard desirous to keep so able a Commander as Sir George in the Kingdom furnisheth him with what Money he could at the present and sends him Northwards to lay and prepare the business before promising to do his uttermost endeavours to procure him those supplies of Money Ammunition and Arms by the time appointed as also to bring his Army up as far as Sligo there to countenance Sir George in his undertakings and be ready for any fair occasion that should present it self for the mastering of the Country After four or fiv● days stay at the most his Excellency took his leave and hastened towards Kilkenny obliging the Lord Clanrickard to come after him to be present at a meeting he had appointed there for the procuring of a good understanding between the Clergy the Commissioners and himself and for taking the best order they could for the raising and maintaining an Army against the next Spring But though they met nothing at that time could be done or agreed upon wherefore the Lord Clanrickard returns into Connaght to take order for his Northern Exp●dition which out of the great difficulties of getting his men together arising out of the universal distractions that were then in the Kingdom the hard Season of the year the Pestilence the want of Moneys and Provisions he could not possibly go through with against February which was the time designed nor even then when he did without very great necessities and inconveniencies to himself and his Army though that Noble Person declined no difficulty nor spared no Charge in his Majesties Service This failing in point of time and a great part of the Moneys promised him which nevertheless as things stood no mans industry could have remedied Sir George Monro complained very much of affirming that their opportunity was lost thereby especially now they being come the Army was able to move no further through extreme want of Provision kept from them by foul and contrary weather for which and the residue of the Money together with hopes of an accord between the Lord-Lieutenant and the Commissioners some days were spent in expectation but nothing in the end except onely a Letter from the Lord Ormond summoning the Lord Clanrickard suddainly away his Lordship was forced to leave his Army and the Northern business to the hazard and return back to meet the Lord-Lieutenant and the Commissioners at Loghreogh W●ereupon Sir George Monro believing now the Lord-Lieutenant would leave the Kingdom seeing the divisions amongst the Irish grew daily greater and giving all for lost having received a defeat by Sir Charles Coot where the Earl of Claneboys was taken Prisoner and Colonel Henderson killed with some 800 Private Souldiers and lastly finding the impatience of his own party to treat with the Enemy as he had often before publikely declared he would retires himself to Eniskillin and having made Conditions for himself the remainder of his Party and his Officers that were in Prison gave up that place to the Enemy and departed the Kingdom Very soon after whose retirement the Lord Clanrickard's Army through extremity of want was forced to return from Sligo back towards the County of Galloway Where I will leave it and come back to his Excellency who being left by the Lord Clanrickard lately in Kilkenny after having caused Captain Tickle to be Executed for a designe he had of betraying that Town to Cromwel was by the breach growing daily wider between him and the Kingdom and through the increase of the Sickness now come thither at the joynt request of the Commissioners and Officers induced to remove towards Limerick where being negligently received without the accustomed respect used to the Kings Lieutenant he after a short stay departed thence into the County of Clare Immediately thereupon the Enemy having refreshed his men and encreased his Army with a great accession of old Souldiers that had formerly served under the Lord Inchiqueen and the Lord-Lieutenant takes the field and falls a Summoning Castles and bringing the Country under Contribution wherein he had a general success most of the Castles surrendring upon appearance of a party of Horse except Kiltenan which gave him some resistance His Excellencies Army through the forementioned obstinacy and disobedience of the Towns against receiving Garrisons was so far dispersed that there was no means of drawing them together neither if that were done of drawing them in a Body for the Country was destroyed and wast so that it could not supply him besides during these disagreements between the Lord-Lieutenant the Clergy and the Commissioners there were few or none of the Irish Souldiers if there had been Provisions for them that would obey his Excellencies Orders Of all which Cromwel was well aware and therefore went securely and with confidence to work carrying all before him Amongst other of his successes Ballisanon was sold unto him and Cahir Castle then the dwelling-house of Master Matthews a young youth and half Brother to the Lord-Lieutenant given him contrary to those strict orders left by his Excellency with Master Matthews for the keeping of it who was so conscious of his own misdoing in the Act that he refused upon several summons and invitations to appear before his Lordship and stayed s●●ll in the Enemies quarters to secure himself from his Excellencies indignation But nevertheless this act of Master Matthews is made a ground of new sus●●●●ns and fresh clamours against his Lordship himself by the Irish who all this while run on in their extravagancies intent onely upon their disputes in hand as if there were no such man as Cromwel in the Kingdom insomuch that seeing so many several meetings assigned and so much time spent to so little purpose his Excellency concludes that those people would never be brought into order by him and therefore resolves to withdraw himself from the Government if not to depart the Kingdom and to commit the management of all unto the Marquess of Clanrickard which was the reason of his Lordships being sent for back again from Sligo The Enemy in the mean time having the Castles of Gowran and Laghlin together with the Officers Commanding in them delivered into his hands by the Common-Souldiers sets at last upon Kilkenny whence a while before the Earl of Castlehaven who was now left with chief Command in Lemster was drawn out with his Forces by reason the Sickness raged so leaving Sir Walter Butler and Major Walsh with about 50 Horse and some 400 Foot in the place where a breach being made and the Enemy
of reducing the stubborness of some of the principal there to their obedience in the discussing and conclusion of that affair as he was Hunting neer Arnhem a destemper seized him which turning to the Small Pox and a Flux of putrified blood falling upon his Lungs presently carried him away on the 17 of October not without suspition of Poison leaving behind him the Princess Royal neer her time who to the great joy of the Low Countries was deliv●red of a young Prince on the 5 of November as a cordial to that immoderate grief Her Highness and her Family took from this sad providence the Prince being the most sincere and absolute friend his late and present Majesty found in the greatest difficulties of their affairs The War in Ireland went on prosperously still with the Parliament the success being very much facilitated by the misunderstanding and divisions that were among the Catholicks and the Protestant Loyal party there in so much that the Lord Ormond the Lieutenant was not regarded among them nor he able through this means to make any head against Ireton then left Deputy in that Kingdom so that little of any memorable action passed in the field till the expiration of the Summer at which time Ireton intending to besiege Limrick one of the strongest Cities in Ireland marched from Waterford and made a compass into the County of Wicklow which being stored with plundered Cattle furnished him with 1600 Cows for provision in that Leaguer and so marched to Athlo●e in hopes to gain it but finding the Bridge broke and the Town on this side burnt he left that and took two other Castles and the Bur on the same side and presently clapped down before Limrick having marched 150 miles and in some Counties 30 miles together and not a house or living creature to be seen The Marquess Clanrickard to whom the Military power was by general consent devolved as being a Papist and a Native of most Antient and Noble Extraction and by the very good liking of the Marquess of Ormond who had had large experience of his exemplary fidelity to the King and the English interest ever since the very first Rebellion in 1641 having notice of the Enemies being at Athlone marched with 3000 men to whom joyned afterwards young Preston late at Waterford presently to the relief of it if any thing should have been attempted and passing the Shanon having notice of Ireton's quitting Athlone took the two Castles again and laid siege to the Bur where two great Guns had been left by the English To the relief whereof likewise Colonel Axtel having fac'd them before but now reinforced marched with a resolution to Engage being in all some 2500 men whereupon the Marquess Clanrickard quitted the Siege and retreated to Meleke Island bordering upon the Shanon into which there was but one Pass and a Bog on each side On the 25 of October a little before night Axtel made a resolute attempt upon them and after a sharp disp●te beat them from the first and second Passes and at the third which was strongly fortified came to the B●t-end of the Musquet and entred the Island which the Irish in flight deserted leaving most of their Arms behind 200 Horse all their Waggons and Baggage so that what by the Sword and the River one half of that Army perished On the English side Captain Goff and a hundred more were killed the Marquess was himself not present but was gone upon a designe against the Siege at Limerick which advanced very slowly The next day the Irish quitted all the Garrisons they had taken and fired th●m whereupon Ireton drew from Limerick and took in the st●o●g Castle of Neanagh in low Ormond and so retreated to his Winter-quarters a● Kilkenny in November These untoward events and misfortunes one upon the neck of another together with the displacency and dissatisfaction among themselves made the Lord Ormond despair of retriving His Majesties interest in that Kingdom without forrain assistance and therefore he resolved to depart and signified his intentions accordingly to the Council of of the Irish who after some arguments and intreaties of his further stay did at last humbly and sorrowfully take leave of him rendring him all expressions of thanks and honour for those unwearied Services he had done his Country and passed several Votes in record thereof desiring his Lordship to excuse those many failures which evil times and strange necessities had caused in them and desiring him to be their Advocate to His Majesty and to other Princes to get some aid and supplies from them to the defence of that gasping Realm that now strugled with its last Fate About the beginning of December the Marquess took shipping in a little Frigat called the Elizabeth of 28 Tuns and 4 Guns and set sail from Galloway followed by the Lord Inchiqueen Colonel Vaughan the Noble Colonels Wogan and Warren and some 20 more persons of Honour intending for France Scilly or Iersey but happily landed at St. Malos in France in Ianuary whence they went to Paris and gave the Queen-Mother an account of that Kingdom Thence the Marquess of Ormond removed to Flanders and the Lord Inchiqueen into Holland and came to Amsterdam the Valiant Wogan taking the first opportunity in Scilly in order to his further service of the King in Scotland where he first manifested his Zeal and gallantry to the Royal Cause The noise of these lucky Atchievements had made most of the Neighbouring Princes consider a little further and more regardfully of this Commonwealth more especially such whose Trade by Sea might be incommodated by their Naval-force which now Lorded it in gallant Fleets upon the adjoyning Seas The first whom this danger prevailed upon was the King of Portugal Iohn the 4. whose Fleet laden with Sugar from Brasile General Blake had met with and for his entertainment of Prince Rupert with his Fleet now newly taken and dispersed brought away 9 of them into the River of Thames where they were delivered to the Commissioners for Prize-goods then newly established by Authority of Parliament upon which score the State received in few years many hundred thousand pounds and was cheated of almost as much whose names were Blackwel Blake Sparrow and upon the Dutch-War others particularly named for that very Affair because of its continual Employment In the Month of December therefore he sent hither his Embassador who landed at ●he Isle of Wight and gave notice to the Council of State of his Arrival who instead of a better complement sent him a safe Conduct for his Journey to London there being then open Hostility between the two Nations for that the King of Portugal to satisfie himself of his damages sustained in his Sugar-fleet had sei●●d all the English Merchants goods in Lisbon On the 11 of December he had Audience before a Committee of Parliament attended with the Master of the Ceremonies and 20 of his own retinue in the House
they might not seem what they were most sure of from the people to be wanting to themselves in this perplext and unconsulted occurrence The King departed from Sterling the last of Iuly and came into England by the way of Carlisle and upon His first footing there was Proclaimed rightful King of Great Britain and did thereupon publish his Declaration wherein He offered His free Grace and Pardon to be confirmed by an Act thereafter to all His Subjects of England of whatever Nature or Crime their Offences were excepting Cromwel Bradshaw and Cook the more immediate Murtherers of His Father and therewith prosecuted His march being Proclaimed in the same manner through all the Towns He passed The English that accompanied Him of Note were the Duke of Buckingham Earl of Cleaveland Lord Wentworth Lord Wilmot Colonel Wogan I finde him in all Services Colonel Matthew Bointon Major-General Massey and Colonel Graves Titus and Major Ashurst The King marched directly North-west to Lancashire whither Harrison with some of Lamberts men had got before Him intending to stop His further passage at Warrington to which service they had obliged and animated the new-raised Cheshire-Foot amounting to neer 3000 but both they and Harrison received a notable defeat at that place by the conduct of Colonel Massey who set them a forerunning with a greater speed than they had made hitherto to overtake the King to whom in this County came the Earl of Derby who landed at Wye-water from the Isle of Man though not with the same instantaneous or indeed any success which his great Ancestor the noble Stanly brought to His Majesties Royal Progenitor King Henry the seventh upon his like dispute for the regaining of the Crown With the Earl of Derby the King left some Forces of English under his Major-General Sir Thomas Tildesly to strengthen what Forces he brought with him and to countenance those Levies he was to make in that County where he was very well beloved both for his own and his Ancestors worth and most liberal Hospitality Massey was left here behind but presently recalled From Warrington the King passed with quick marches through part of Cheshire to Newport in Shropshire whence He sent His Invitations and Summons to Colonel Mackworth Governour of Shrewsbury and Sir Thomas Middleton Mackworth confidently refused directing his answer to the Commander in chief of the Scotch Forces not owning the King for so much as their Soveraign On the 22 of August the Van of the Kings Army entred Worcester some resistance being attempted to be made by some new-raised Forces under one Colonel Iames and by the influence of Baron Wilde but the Towns-men saved them the labour of driving them out and most joyfully welcomed these weary guests and such too as in 1645. had been extremely oppressive and intolerably burdensome at the Siege of Hereford but their gladness at the Kings presence and hope of his Restitution obliterated all other considerations and remembrances whatsoever The Mayor and his Brethren at the Kings Intrado did him the customary but most chearful Obeysances tendring Him the Keys and the Mace upon their Knees and bidding Him and His Forces welcome to this His Majesties Antient and Loyal City where the same day with great solemnity He was anew Proclaimed and the tired Souldiers most abundantly provided for being in all Scotch and English some 13000 who had marched 300 miles outright in 3 weeks In the mean time the Parliament had amassed a numerous Militia in all the Counties of England and had mustred the London-Regiments in Morefields with a full yet not quarter appearance of such as would fight for them against their Prince as they witnessed by that dumb silence which was obstinately kept upon the Reading of their Proclamation against the King and burning his Declaration at the head of every Regiment who were designed onely for the service and security of the City The Country-Troops in the mean time advanced and glad were the Members that the King stayed for them for nothing was more dreaded than His continued march to London which place would have soon ridded their fears upon an approach of the Kings Army but 30 miles further from Worcester but to prevent that as Essex did before at the beginning of the War whose first efforts took this way Cromwel by long marches through Newcastle Rippon Ferrybrigs Doncaster Mansfield and Coventry had interposed himself and joyned with his Army at Keynton where a General Council of all his Officers was held and a speedy advance to Worcester resolved on Lieutenant-General Fleetwood being dispatcht to bring up his Forces then on their way at Banbury the gross of all the Forces amounting to above 40000 effective Militia and all The King had Summoned in all the Country to his assistance and Rendezvouzed on the 26 of August upon Pitzfodder-Heath neer that City and went on with the Fortifications and rearing the Mount Of the chief of those that came in was the Lord Talbot after Earl of Shrewsbury and Colonel Howard Colonel Sir Edward Broughton and Captain Benbow and some adventurers from London who were forced to pass through the Parliaments Army nor could it be expected any could appear when such powerful Militia's were up every where so that all the new accessional strength the King received was no way considerable save for the Gallantry and Noble Loyalty of such as in these disadvantages owned His Majesties Cause and Fortunes Yet there was a Noble Person and some few of his partakers whom froward unkinde Fate had banded from one ruine to a worse and had added to that number of English at Worcester This was the truly Honourable Earl of Derby that was left behinde in Lancashire to raise that County whose Levies with that Force left him did not amount to above 1200 men though a little more time had rendred him formidable with those he was marching upon a designe to fall upon Cromwel's own Regiment quartering upon their march in Lancaster when in the nick comes Colonel Lilburn with 10 Troops of Horse sent by the General from York upon this very Service having with him two Regiments of the Cheshire-Foot and other additions of Horse The Earl was now in the midst of both these Parties and therefore resolved to fight with Lilburn finding his men couragious and desirous to engage though most Horse and in Lanes and accordingly charged them so furiously that he totally routed their first Troops and made an impression into their Body so far that they began to run while other fresh Reserves coming in they were forced to face about being annoyed with the Musquets yet did they renew the charge again and had they had but another Reserve they had in all probability won the day for it was upon a second Turn when another supply resisted the torrent of their Valour which left undeniable proofs of it self in the death of most of the Commanders of their Wounds in and
and at Newport the Earl of Lauderdale the Earl of Rothes the Earl of Carnwarth the Earl of Kelly the Earl of Derby the Earl of Cleaveland Sir Iohn Packington the Lord Spyne Sir Ralph Clare Sir Charles Cunningham Colonel Graves Mr. Richard Fanshaw Secretary to the King 6 Colonels of Horse 13 of Foot 9 Lieutenant-Colonels of Horse 8 Lieutenant-Colonels of Foot 6 Majors of Horse 13 Majors of Foot 37 Captains of Horse 72 Captains of Foot 55 Quarter-masters 89 Lieutenants there were taken also some General Officers with 76 Cornets of Horse 99 Ensignes of Foot 90 Quarter-masters 80 of the Kings Servants with the Kings Standard which he had set up when he Summoned the Country the Kings Coach and Horses and Collar of SS but that which was ten times more worth than all the Kings Person they had no power to touch He as was said before departed in the dusk leaving Colonel Carcles now by the King in honour of his carefulness of his Majesties person Named Carlos and a Coat of Arms pointing at this service added in his Rear to keep the Enemy in dispute while he was something onward on his way and the dusk and deliberation might favour his escape To which end all persons about him were Commanded to speak French and a present consultation was held which course they should steer and it was resolved by the Earl of Derby that they should make what speed they could and recover a place called Whiteladies before morning which was some 25 miles from Worcester and thereupon one Mr. Giffard then in the Company was called for his guidance thither it belonging to his Family and one Walker that had been formerly a Scout-master in the Kings Army was his assistant yet the way was mistaken as they passed a Heath but by good providence soon recovered Betwixt three and four a Clock the King reached this place and Mr. Giffard after some knocking at the Door called up one George Penderill a servant in the House who heating and knowing his Voice ●an down in his Shirt and opened the Door and the King and his Retinue entred where after a little debate about the security of his person the said Earl having called thither William Penderill the House-keeper of Boscobel and another dispatcht towards Tong to see if the Coast was yet clear His Majesty having had his Hair cut off and his Buff-doublet and Linnen-breeches Buried and disguised in Country-Habit was with adjuration of the Fidelity of the Penderills who were with their Brother-in-law George Yates in number five Committed and intrusted by the Earl of Derby to their Tuition which they most solemnly and dutifully promised Then the Earl and the rest of the Lords viz. the Duke of Buckingham and that train with Tears took their leave Derby would have staid but there was no probability of secrecy for two and the Lord Wilmot with Iohn Penderil withdrew himself from that Company to another retreat The rest except the Duke who lay concealed in other friends houses about that Country were taken as aforesaid at Newport by Lilburns Horse the same who had defeated the Earl of Derby who now rendred himself a Prisoner to one Captain Edge of Lancashire on promise of quarter for Life As soon as the King was thus left by his Company with a Wood-hill in his hand he was conducted into a Wood or Coppice neer adjoyning borrowing the Name of William Iones a Wood-cutter newly come thither for Work and was accordingly instructed in his Tongue and Behaviour That day proved very wet so that Yate's Wife brought him a Blanket to cover him and a dish of Milk and Apples for his refreshment and at night against his coming home where the Mother of the Penderils at her Son Richard's most joyfully welcomed him provided an ordinary Country Supper which ended the King with Richard his Guide resolving for Wales went to one Mr. Wolfe 's of Madely where for fear of search the King was fain to take up his quarters in the Barn Mr. Wolfe and his Wife attending on him there while no accomodations was good enough for his Rebels now lying in multitudes up and down that Country Here his Majesty understood that the Passes over the Water and the River Severn were so guarded that it was unfeasible ●or him to adventure over into Wales so that on Friday-night the King retreated in his Woolen accoutrements about his Legs in which he had lain in that hard lodging in great pain and soreness to Boscobel where he found Colonel Carlos who had also betaken himself thither for shelter by his direction that Saturday the King went into the Wood from the pleasantness whereof the House took its name and by his assistance ascended into the top of that most Celebrated Oak which being thick with Branches stretching and shaddowing foreright was altogether impervious to the sight and here the Colonel bore him Company while He laid his Head and slept upon a Pillow in his Lap At night they both descended and came into the House and refresht themselves The King perceiving the secrecy of the place was not willing to keep longer abroad Sunday the King past away in a kinde of Arbour or Banquetting-house at the end of the Garden At this House Iohn Penderil found him being sent before by the Lord Wilmot to conduct him to Mr. Whitgraves at Mosely whither with much difficulty and danger he himself had arrived but the safety there answered all The King approved of the Lord Wilmot's Residence and on Munday night with the guard of the five Brethren on Humphrey the Millers Horse and like accoutrements came to Mr. Whitgrave's where he was joyfully welcomed by the Lord and that Gentleman and conveyed into a secret place and there consultation was held for a further progression in this happy escape and to this purpose one Colonel Lane of Bentley was made acquainted with it and by them agreed that Mrs. Iane Lane upon pretence of assisting at the Child-bed of her Sister should Ride to Bristol and the King as her Servant before her with Mr. Lassels and his Wife behinde him a Pass accordingly having been procured On their way thither the Lord Wilmot as of chance met with them having a Hauk on his Fist and so they journeyed together to Bromsgrove where the Kings Horse losing a Shoe His Majesty was forced to carry the Horse to a Farrier who enquiring of News of the King and being answered with the success of the Fight at Worcester but that the King was escaped into Scotland replied that no doubt the King was secretly somewhere in England and wisht he knew where for that he could get 1000 l. by taking of him That he providentially mist the King departing from thence to Evesham where advising how to avoid Troopers then Grazing their Horses in the Meadows adjoyning they light upon them in a neer Village but were civilly past from thence
for Mac Cloud and Mac Eldow had Articled some time before to render the last Arms that were taken up for his Majesty in that Ki●gdom And so we dismiss that War with this valedictory Elogie to both those honourable Generals the one of them just ceased his indefatigable industry for the Recovery of the Kings Rights and had a Royal Conge and Writ of Emeri●us est and the other like an Altern Luminary began or rather renewed his auspicious aspect upon the Kings Restitution so that the brightness of the Majesty of Scotland was never totally obscured and long may they now shine together without diminution to each others lustre in this glorious Firmament of his Majesties present and perpetual Empire In England the French Embassadors prosecuted the Treaty am●in and with very great secrecy but some mistake happening in point of civility and ceremony by Monsieur de Baas Bourdeaux's Colleague he returned into France to meet a report of his carriage at Paris from whence upon timely overture of the proceedings in that affair our Soveraign withdrew and departed to the Spaw by Leige where he was magnificently treated by that City and so onward in his journey to meet the Princess of Aurange his Sister who had left her Son the Prince in Holland where the divisions about his being Stadtholder were as high as ever and to help them forward Cromwel writ to the States of Zealand to perswade them to the Holland-resolution which the Towns of Campen and Swol had so far withstood as to accept and Swear Prince William of Frizeland to be their Stadtholder during the minority of the Prince of Aurange which was 19 years or till he should be capable of the Government The Duke of York was to have Commanded as Lieutenant-General of the French Army in Italy but this unhandsome Peace disobliged his better-deserving and victorious Arms and turned them afterward against such thankless and regardless Relations he continued yet nevertheless at Paris till after the said Treaty was concluded and then took his Farewel of that unkinde and politick Court Prince Rupert was now at Vienna where he was highly Complemented and presented by the Emperour and from thence came back to Heydelberg Prince Cromwel who was now wholly out of action having laid his Scene in the Counties and Boroughs for Elections to the ensuing Parliament gave himself and the Town a little recreation It happened on a Friday in Iuly that desirous to divert himself with driving of his Coach and six Horses in Hide-park with his Secretary Thurloe in it like Mephistophilus and Doctor Faustus careering it in the Air to try how he could govern Horses since Rational Creatures were so unruly and difficult to be reined like another Phaeton he fell in the Experiment from the Coach-box which was presently posted into the City and many ominous and true Conjectures made of his certain Catastro●ph● one of the ingenious Songs on the occasion ending in this presagio●● Rythme Every Day and Hour hath shew'd us his power But now he hath shew'd us his Art His first Reproach was a fall from a Coach His next will be from a Cart. According to the late Instrument of Government of 42 Strings or Articles one whereof was that a Parliament should be call●d every three years the first the third of September next He accordingly Issued out his Writs the Election to be made one and the same day throughout England most of the Boroughs had but one Burgess and the Shires some of them six or seven Knights all of them under sure qualifications of not having been or being of the Cavalier-party There were 30 also by the Instrument Elected for Scotland and as many for Ireland all or most of whom were English Commanders On the third of September they met and adjourned from the House to the Abbey where Mr. Marshal Preached and so to the Painted Chamber where they had a Message from the Protector to invite them to a Sermon the next day again when Dr. Goodwyn Preached and the Protector came in great State in his Coach Cleypole the Master of his Horse and Strickland the Captain of his Guard bare-headed on both sides At his entrance into the Church Lambert carried the Sword before him and Whitlock the Purse The Sermon done to the Painted Chamber again and there in a Speech he set forth these Heads That some few years ago none would have thought of such a Door of Hope that he knew there were yet many Humours and Interests and that Humours were above Interest that the condition of England was like Israel in the Wilderness of which the Sermon was that this was a Healing day there was neither Nobleman nor Gentleman nor Yeoman before known by any distinction we had not any that bore Rule or Authority but a great Contempt of Magistracy and Christ's Ordinances That the Fifth-Monarchy was highly cried up by persons who would Assume the Government but that desired thing wanted greater manifestation than appeared for such men to change the Authority by And this directed at the late Parliament He desired this Honourable Assembly to remedy all these Disorders shewed that the Wars with Portugal French and Dutch do and did eat up the Assessments that swarms of Iesuits are crept in to make Divisions which were grown so wide that nothing but his Government could remedy them and let men say what they will he could speak it with comfort before a greater than any of them Then he shewed what he had done during his Government First his endeavour of Reforming the Laws having joyned all parties to assist in that great Work Next his filling the Benches with the ablest Lawyers Then his Regulation of the Court of Chancery and his Darling-Ordinance for approbation of Ministers which hindred all that list from invading the Ministry by men of both perswasions Presbyterians and Independents c. And lastly his being Instrumental to call a Free Parliament which he valued and would keep it so above his life Then he shewed the advantages of the Peace with Dutch Dane and Swede and the Protestant Interest which he would have them improve and intend chiefly That they were now upon the edge of Canaan That he spake not as their Lord but their Fellow-servant And then bad them go and chuse their Speak●r which they did without presenting of him his Name William Lenthal the old Chair-man and next day fell upon the Instrument as they had Voted by Parts as it lay and questioned the Power which Oliver understanding to put them out of that Course which touched his Copy-hold after 9 days he came to the Painted Chamber and sending for them declared and asserted four Fundamentals in the Instrument which they were not to meddle with or to alter 1. The Government by a Single person and Parliament 2. The Imperpetuity of Parliaments or continued Succession ● The Militia which was his onely And 4. Liberty of Conscience And that a
Treason for any person whatsoever to put force upon any Members of the House And next that all Votes Acts and Resolutions passed by any Members of Parliament when the rest were detained from or taken out of the House should be null and void and other motions becoming English-men to that end judging themselves under a force and finding they were very unanimous though neer 400 in the House In the things proposed they resolved no question but adjourned till Munday-morning the 25 of April and attended the Speaker in order through Westminster-hall to his Coach in the face of the Souldiery Now the Court according to the guise of the World in like accidents shrunk out of White-hall into Wallingford-house and Fleetwood Desborough and the rest of the Officers great and small took the Government into their own hands and discarded their Idol the Protector whom they had Worshipped and Deified in their Addresses the Milksop not so much as muttering at these Affronts and Indignities a fine● worthy Fellow● and becoming the greatness of his House out of which God wonderfully rescued the Majesty Royal and Honour of the Crown of England from being sullied with such base and sordid wearing and great talk there once was of such a thing as Richard the 4th Within two or three Mornings after this cast out of his Office instead of his Guards poor Richard was beset with all the Bayliffs of Middlesex who had a Writ against him for a Debt of the late Funeral-Expences by the Name of Richard Cromwel Esq. Is curre per ALPES Vt pueris placeas Declamatio Fias The House of Commons was also shut up and entrance denied to the Members when they came on Monday even to Sir Henry Vane and Sir Arthur Haselrig themselves according to Adjournment the Court of Requests and all Avenues being full of Souldiers who told the Members that they must Sit no more THE RUMP AFTER the new Officers had moduled themselves Cashiering Whaley Ingoldsby Goffe and divers others of the Protector 's party and restoring Lambert Haslerig Okey and others displaced by Protector Oliver and played with the Government for a few days and grew weary of it the inferiour Officers and the Pamphlets that now flew about daily without controul carrying things beyond the intention of the Chief Officers they sent to some of their old ●lackney Drudges of the Long Parliament then in London who they knew would do any thing so they might be suffered to Sit and on the fifth and sixth days of May had conference with them the last of which was at their never-failing Speaker the Master of the Rolls's House in Chancery-lane where both Officers viz. Lambert who had already gotten his old place and others with him and Members viz. Sir Henry Vane Sir Arthur Haslerig Ludlow Iohn Iones Mr. Chaloner Mr. Scot and others to the number of twenty sollicited William Lenthal Esquire to sit Speaker again but he objected scruples in Judgement and Conscience and the uncertain state of Commonwealth and Army nevertheless fifteen Articles between the Officers and some of the Members who it seems over-confidently undertook for the rest being agreed on at some of their Meetings they resolved to meet in the House on Saturday the 7 of May yet that they might do it by surprize they gave out that they would not sit till Tuesday the 10th of May But the Itch of Ambition and Lording it over the peopl● giving them no quiet on Saturday the 7th of May early they met in the Painted-Chamber at Westminster and to make up their number sent for the two chast Cock-Sparrows the Lord Munson and Mr. Henry Martin out of Prison where they were in Execution for Debt and Mr. Whitlock and Lisle off the Chancery-Bench and with this addition being two and forty in number the Chancery-Mace for hast being carried before them whose Names from a Noble Hand with this Account I have Transcribed viz. William Lenthal Lord Munson Henry Martin Mr. Whitlock Mr. Lisle Mr. Chaloner Alderman Atkins Alderman Pennington Thomas Scot. Cornelius Holland Henry Vane Prideaux Attorney-General Sir Iames Harrington Ludlow Oldsworth Sir Arthur Haslerig Iohn Iones Purefoy Colonel White Henry Nevil Mr. Say Mr. Blagrave Colonel Bennet Mr. Brewster Serjeant Wilde Iohn Goodwin Mr. Lechmore Augustine Skinner Mr. Downes Mr. Dove Mr. Iohn Lenthal Mr. Saloway Mr. Iohn Corbet Mr. Walton Gilbert Millington Mr. Gould Colonel Sydenham Colonel Bingham Colonel Ayre Mr. Smith Colonel Ingoldsby Fleetwood stole on a sudden into the House the Invitation of the Army for the sitting of the Long Parliament as they call it being first published in Westminster-hall wherein at the conclusion they added that calling to minde that Gods presence and his Blessing was visible among the late Members of the Long Parliament who sate till April 23. 1653. they did invite them to their Trust and they answer this with a like Declaration not dashing at the least upon the Army setting forth that they are resolved to apply themselves to the discharge of their Trust and to endeavour a Settlement upon such a Foundation as might best secure all Christian and civil Interest Liberty and Propriety without King Single person or House of Peers and shall endeavour the work of Reformation so much desired and often declared for and a Godly and Faithful Ministry to the glory and praise of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the reviving and making glad the Hearts of the Upright in the Land Upon Notice of their sitting there being double their number Members of the same Parliament in Town and many of them in the Hall to prevent the mischiefs of a surreptitious packed Parliament they agreed among themselves in the Hall though they were doubtful that Parliament was dissolved that about a dozen or fourteen of them should immediately go to the House and the persons that did so were these viz. Mr. Ansley since Earl of Anglesey my right Noble Author Sir George Booth Mr. Pryn. Mr. George Montague Sir Iohn Eveling Mr. Gowen Mr. Eveling Mr. Knightly Mr. Clive Mr. Hungerford Mr. Harley Mr. Peck Who though with much ado they got into the Lobby where they found Mr. Iames and Mr. Iohn Herbert they were not suffered by the Officers of the Army to go into the House though they disputed their priviledge of Sitting if the Parliament were yet in being but Reason as well as the Laws must be silent among men of War and therefore after they had fairly made their claim and found the House under force they retired and resolved by Letter to acquaint the Speaker and those Gentlemen assembled with him what usage they had received And accordingly on Munday the 9 of May they went to Westminster where understanding that there were no Guards upon the House Mr. Ansley Mr. Pryn and Mr. Hungerford went up to the House and had free admittance receiving the Declaration of the 7th of May at the Door which was published the same day but
with matters of Religion the Militia Qualifications and Writs for Elections and in the interim endeavours were used more especially at Hull by Major Gen. Overton to debauch part of the Army at York and the same tricks also at Chester with the Irish Brigades but were Defeated and came to nothing Therefore Col. Lambert refusing to put in security of Twenty thousand pounds was now at last Committed to the Tower to prevent any future danger from the unsatisfied part of the Souldiery About this time died Carolus Gustavus King of Sweden The Engagement made by the remnant of the Parliament Viz. I do declare and promise that I will be true and faithful c. was now ordered to be expunged out of the Journal-book of the House of Commons which made the Phanaticks begin to fear their unjust Possessions Hull was now delivered to Col. Fairfax according to the Generals Order The Inscription under the Statue of King Charles the first in the Exchange London Exit Tyrannus was expunged and blotted out by a private hand According to the Parliament resolves to Dissolve themselves and being pressed by the General whose well-governed impatience of the Kings return permitted not the least delay in that dangerous place Writs were ordered to be issued out for the Election of Members in the ensuing Parliament in the name of The Keepers of the Liberty of England by Authority of Parliament and the Bill of their Dissolution being read and passed leaving a power in the Council of State in the interval of Parliament to govern the Nations they broke up and so this long-lasting Parliament which hath done and suffered so many strange things came with fair expectations to a peaceable conclusion but shall never want the Elegies and the doleful complaints of the three Kingdoms The Parliament being thus Dissolved the first thing the Council of State acted was the emitting of a Proclamation forbidding all Persons whatsoever to make applications to any of the Officers and Souldiers in the Army in the way of Agitating declaring that pernitious course was the ruine of the King and Kingdome in the years 1647 and 48. This actuated with a diligent eye upon some suspected persons and securing of others happily retained the Army in their duty and obedience to the bringing about his Majesties Restitution which was every day more visible The Council of State were hammering a Proclamation requiring such qualifications as were intended by Parliament for the Election of Members to be strictly observed whereby Cavaliers were to be excluded but there were enow Royallists besides to do that great and happy work which was soon after accomplisht and yet in the mean while made Addresses to the King some Letters passing from them to him being unhappily delayed by the death of Mr. Annesley Brother to the now Earl of Anglesey who was drowned as he was taking Boat to proceed in his Voyage for the delivery of them to the King Mr. Barebone and Mr. Scot signed an Engagement wherein they promised to live peaceably but divers others of that Faction for agitating and other misdemeanors were secured and committed to prison the Elections in the interim went hopefully on and the Militia was every where well established A Letter was sent by the Council to the Bassa of Algier for releasing the Lord Inchequeen and his Son who were lately taken by a Turkish Pirate neer the Port of Lisbon and carried to Algier Colonel Massey appeared in Gloucestershire with an intention to stand for an Election there he was ordered to appear before the Council which he did and was afterwards unanimously chosen one of the Burgesses for that City as Major-General Brown who sate with the secluded Members before with the Recorder Sir William Wilde and Sir Iohn Robinson with whom the General constantly conversed in the suspence of his declaring himself but was riddled to the Royallists by the Company he kept were Elected for London both these eminent Captains were very active and instrumental in the King's Restauration The City of London emitted a Declaration wherein they clear themselves of the Guilt of the King's Death and the Crimes of the Usurpation their Counsels being under a force of a desperate Juncto put upon them and as a signet of the Revolution ensuing suffered the same Tumults to the Restitution which it had fomented and cherished in the beginning of the Wars to the ruine and overthrow of the Kingdoms Anno Dom. 1660. WE begin this mirabilis Annus the wonderful year of 1660 which by the old Philosophical Axiome of twenty years revolution was to return all things in statu quo to wit the same condition with an occurrence of no seeming tendencie or aspect to the product thereof viz. The Proclamation from the Council of State against Election of any to this Parliament that had served his Majesty in the late Wars which proceeded from the unreconciled Results of those secluded Members who yet retained some grudge of their first Quarrel and would fain do away the imputation of their unjust Arming themselves and the people against their Soveraign by a Vote passed this last sitting wherein they again declared That the late King began the War with the two Houses and this was now for a subsequent confirmation of that fallacious Maxime of the Rebellion Mr. Saint Iohn that was of this Council of State now opened and discovered himself in the solution of his former actions by his suspicions and fears of the approaching Revolution He stickled first for the Qualifications which the Parliament through the General 's designed importunity had left unestablished and undetermined and that being thus decreed though the Gentry found means to Elude this Paper-scare-crow foreseeing the necessity and absolute combination of all things to the King's Return he laboured to clog that also with limitations and conditions but to less purpose than he had straightned this Free Convention ensuing which was very unlike to prove so if such designes had taken effect For to the Honour and everlasting entire Felicity of this unparallelled Rovolution and the noble General 's Loyal and most generous and obliging Prudence beyond all Parliamentory Engagements and Terms whatsoever his Majesties Rights and undoubted Prerogative were left and returned to him most free and inviolate A Convention was held in Ireland in nature of a Parliament till such time as one might be conveniently and rightly called for to provide for the Peace and Safety of that Kingdom from whence the L. Shannon Sir Iohn Clothworthy and Major Aston were sent as Commissioners to the Council During the Election of Members it was wonderful to see the general chearfulness that possessed the minds and looks of all men and the no less stupid consternation of the Phanatick party which term they likewise obtained from a Letter of the General 's from Scotland a little while before so that it was plainly seen God had disarmed their spirits of that violence that had
which this Kingdom hath been involved since the violent attempts to dissolve the Established Government the best way to make up those breaches is by all means to obtain the Restoration of the King to his people and that in order thereunto a Letter from both Houses drawn up by a Committee shall be sent to the King giving him thanks for his gracious Offers and professing their duty and loyalty to him and that Sir Iohn Greenvil have the thanks of the House and 500 l. bestowed on him by the Commons to buy him a Jewel as a Testimony of the respects of the House to him and a badge of Honour which they thought fit to place upon him all which was with great solemnity punctuality performed Moreover to testifie their hearty obedience to his Majesty they ordered the sum of 50000 l. as a Present for him which was instantly borrowed with 50000 l. more of the City of London who having desired leave of the Parliament returned a like dutiful Answer with a Present also to his Majesty and his two Brothers having honourably received the Lord Viscount Mordant and the said Sir Iohn Greenvil who brought them his Majesty's Letters who also acknowledged their Quality and good Offices by 300 l. given them to buy them Rings Nor were the Souldiery wanting to this concourse and stream of general Affection and Loyalty to his Majesty for upon communication of his Majesty's Letters and Declaration they quickly drew up an Address to the General wherein they shewed their willing and ready submission as formerly in all Transactions to him their General so in this their perfect Duty to the King To whom they doubted not to evince that his Excellencie and the Army under his Command and those engaged in the Parliaments Cause had complied with the Obligations for which they were raised The Preservation of the Protestant Religion the Honour and Happiness of the King the Priviledges of Parliament the Liberty and Proprieties of the Subject and the Fundamental Laws of the Land This was seconded by the Navy under the General Montague now Earl of Sandwich to whom and the Fleet under him the King had sent the like Letters and Declaration the Sea ringing with the peals of Ordnance upon the communication of the said Papers and lastly the Governour Colonel Harlow and Garrison of Dunkirk did the same by an Address to his Excellencie A Committee was appointed to consider the manner of his Majesties Return and to prepare all things necessary for his Reception they likewise ordered his Majesty's Arms to be set up in all Churches and the Commonwealths to be taken down and that all Proceedings be in the Kings Majesties name and that the present Great Seal be made use of till further order that there might be no hindrance or stop in the proceeding of Justice Easter-Term was likewise prorogued that no business might interfere with this grand and expected Affair of the Settlement of the Kingdom All Officers as Sheriffs Justices that were in commission the 25 of April to continue and exercise the respective Offices in the King's Name It was Resolved further That the King's Majesty be desired to make a speedy return to his Parliament and to the exercise of his Kingly-Office and that in order thereunto several Commissioners from both Houses be sent to the King at Breda with their Letters to his Majesty Doctor Clargys now Sir Thomas the General 's Brother having been before sent with his to the King and to acquaint him with the said Desires and Votes of the Houses To these Commissioners others were added from the City of London the Names of them all are as followeth For the House of Lords Earl of Oxford Earl of Warwick staid at London sick of the Gout Earl of Middlesex Lord Viscount Hereford Lord Berckley Lord Brook For the House of Commons The Lord Fairfax Lord Bruce Lord Falkland Lord Castleton Lord Herbert Lord Mandevil Sir Horatio now Lord Townsend Sir Anthony now Lord Ashly Cooper Sir George Booth now Lord De la mere Denzill now Lord Hollis Sir Henry Holland Sir Iohn Cholmley For the City of London Sir Iames Bunce Baronet Alderman Langham Alderman Reynardson Alderman Sir Richard Browne Sir Nicholas Crisp Alderman Tompson Alderman Frederick Alderman Adams Sir William Wilde Recorder Sir Iohn Robinson Alderman Sir Anthony Bateman Sir William Wale Sir Theophilus Biddulph Sir Richard Ford Sir William Vincent Sir Thomas Bludworth Sir William Bateman Sir Iohn Lewis Master Chamberlain and Sir Laurence Bromfield all of them not Knighted before Knighted by the King at the Hague upon their arrival the King being removed thither from Breda as nearer and more convenient for his shipping the disposal whereof and of the whole Fleet was remitted to his Majesty's pleasure the General Montague having received Orders to obey his Majesty's Commands and Directions therein The Instructions being delivered to the Commissioners they set Sail in several Frigots appointed to attend them and with some foul Weather Landed in Holland where they were graciously and favourably received by his Majesty at the Hague I may not omit that the reception of Sir Thomas Clergys from the General was as an Embassador from a Prince the Lord Gerard with many Coaches being sent to conduct him to Audience where Mr. Hollis into whose hands the Letters were intrusted for the delivery spoke for the House of Commons the Earl of Oxford for the Lords and Sir William Wilde for the City Those that were there at their Audience agreed in Opinion that never person spoke with more affection or in better terms than Master Hollis He insisted chiefly upon the Miseries the Kingdoms had groaned under by the tyranny of the pretended Parliament and Cromwel which should now be exchanged into their repose quiet and lawful liberty beseeching his Majesty in the name of his people to return and resume the Scepter c. and assured him he should be infinitely welcome without any terms a thing so much stomacked by the Phanaticks but most just and honourable After several Treatments given the King by the Dutch which he shortned as much as he could and other Complements by Forraign Ministers to whom he gave publick Audience the Portugal only excepted and Spaniard having notice of the Fleets arrival which consisted of near Forty Sail of great Men of War he prepared to depart At this time came also to his hands the Proclamation made in London as a little before returned Sir Iohn Greenvil with the happy news of his peoples love and entire affection The Proclamation followeth being very fit to be recorded that which we mentioned in the second Part being but an earnest of this ALthough it can no way be doubted but that his Maiesties Right and Title to these Crowns and Kingdoms is and was every way compleat by the Death of his most Royal Father of Glorious Memory without the Ceremony or Solemnity of a Proclamation Yet since
Proclamations in such cases have been always used to the end that all good Subjects might upon this occasion testifie their Duty and Respect And since the Armed Uiolence and other the Calamities of many years last past have hitherto deprived us of any opportunity wherein we might express our Loyalty and Allegiance to his Majesty We therefore the Lords and Commons now assembled in Parliament together with the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council of the City of London and other Free-men of this Kingdom now present do according to our Duty and Allegiance heartily joyfully and unanimously Acknowledge and Proclaim That immediately upon the decease of our late Soveraign King CHARLES the First the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and of all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by Inherent Birthright and lawful undoubted Succession descend and come to his Most Excellent Majesty King CHARLES the Second as being lineally justly and lawfully next Heir of the Blood Royal of this Realm and that by the goodness and providence of Almighty God He is of England Scotland and Ireland the most Potent Mighty and Undoubted King And thereunto We most humbly and faithfully do submit and oblige our Selves our Heirs and Posterities for ever This was Solemnized with the greatest Magnificence and joy possible the Lords and Commons and Lord Mayor attending it the shouts and acclamations at the reading of it in Cheap-side were so loud and great that Bow-bells or any other Bells in the Town though all then Ringing could not be heard All was concluded with unspeakable mirth and numerous Bonefires at night which yielded not their flames but to the rising Sun I shall not intrude other matters at home into this grand Affair but reserve them until ●hereafter and proceed The Dutch also as knowing it would please the King enlarged their Civilities and respects to the Commissioners of the Parliament and City who received them from their Deputies with much satisfaction likewise several Provisions were sent aboard the Fleet and the General He also complemented with the Kings Restitution For a Conclusion of those great Magnificences with which they had entertained his Majesty a Fortnight they resolved to give him a Farewel-Treatment with all the sumptuousness expressible which they performed and in the end presented him with the richest Bed and Furniture with Tapestry for Hangings imbossed with Gold and Silver and adorned with Pictures as could be had the Bed was made at Paris for the Princess of Orange but her Husband dying Eight days before she was delivered it was never used A little before this time Sir Samuel Moreland Thurloe's Agent for Oliver at the Court of Savoy came to the King where he was kindly received having done the King several good Offices and discovered the intrigues of Oliver and the Rump and was Knighted he revealed also several eminent Royalists as Sir Richard Willis Colonel Bamfield and others who betrayed the King's Affairs and Friends to Oliver Hither also about the same time came Sir George Downing who was also graciously received who had done the like good services for his Majesty and was likewise Knighted and continued his Majesties Resident with the States On Sunday the 20 th of May the King heard Doctor Hardy after Dean of Rochester Preach before him the place intended was the French-Church after their Sermon but they knowing of it being greedy to see the King would not come out of their Seats so that it was done in the Princesses Lodgings Here the King touched many of the Evil. In the mean while the Duke of York took the Oath of Allegiance of the Fleet having gone aboard the Naseby where the General treated him which Ship at his departure when the shore resounded with the Artillery he called the Charles as afterwards the whole Fleet was new Christened in their way homewards The King having thanked the States General and of Holland in their Publick Assemblies whither he went on foot took his leave of them recommending to them the interest of his Sister and Nephew the Prince of Orange and was re-saluted by them upon the same as also by the several Ministers of the several Princes one whereof the Count of Oldenham sent an Embassador with Credentials to the King just before his departure being the sole Minister so qualified while his Majesty staid at the Hague On Wednesday the 22 of May Stilo veteri the King departed and it may be said there was no night between Tuesday and that particularly for those who found no place to put their heads in the houses not being able to lodge the croud of people that ran there from all the neighbouring Towns the most part whereof were constrained to walk the streets though the wiser sort took up their Quarters for their advantage of seeing the King's departure on Downs and Sand-hills which bordered all along the Sea-coast where they might see the Fleet and the King Embarquing so that it is a question whether the Hollander more wondered or we more joyed The Speech spoken by the States of Holland at his Farewel for the notableness thereof is here inserted IF one may judge of the content which we have to see your Majesty depart from our Province by the satisfaction we had to possess you we shall have no great trouble to make it known to you Your Majesty might have observed in the Countenance of all our people the joy they had in their hearts to see a Prince cherished of God a Prince wholly miraculous and a Prince that is probably to make a part of their Quietness and Felicity Your Majesty shall see presently all the streets filled all the ways covered and all the hills loaden with people which will follow you even to the place of your Embarquement and would not leave you if they had wherewith to pass them to your Kingdom Our joy is common unto us with that of our Subjects but as we know better than they the inestimable value of the Treasure we possess so are we more sensible of this sad separation It would be insupportable to us Sir if we re-entred not into our selves considered not that it is the thing of the world we most desired and the greatest advantage also that we could wish to your Majesty We acquiesce therein because we know that this removal is no less necessary for us than glorious to your Majesty and that 't is in your Kingdom that we must finde the accomplishment of the prayers we have made and make still for you and us so shall we not fail to profit thence as well as from the assurances which it hath pleased you to give us of an immutable affection towards this Republick We render most humble thanks unto your Majesty for them and particularly for the illustrious proof which it hath pleased you to give us thereof by the glorious Visit wherewith you honoured our Assembly We shall conserve the memory of it
besides Servants Then another Troop of about Two hundred in Velvet-Coats the Foot-men and Liveries in Purple Next a Troop under Colonel Sir Iohn Robinson with Buff-coats Cloath of Silver-sleeves and Green-scarves After this a Troop in Blew Liveries and Silver-lace Colours red fringed with Silver about Two hundred Next another Troop with six Trumpets seven Foot-men in Sea-green and Silver their Colours Pink Fringed with Silver Then a Troop with their Liveries Gray and Blew Thirty Foot-men Four Trumpets about Two hundred and twenty their Colours Sky Fringed with Silver under the Earl of Northampton Another of Gray Liveries Six Trumpets Colours Sky and Silver about One hundred and five led by the Lord Goring Another of Seventy Another Troop led by the Lord Cleveland of about Three hundred Noblemen and Gentry another Troop of about One hundred black Colours One more Troop of Three hundred Horse led by the Lord Mordant After these came Two Trumpets with his Majesties Arms the Sheriffs-men in Red-cloaks and Silver-lace with Half-pikes Seventy two in number Then followed the Gentlemen that rid out of the several Companies of London with their respective Streamers all in Velvet Coats with Gold Chains every Company having its Footmen with different Liveries After these a Kettle-drum and five Trumpets The Citizens being in number about Six hundred After these Twelve Ministers then his Majesties Life-guard led by Sir Gilbert Gerrard and Major Roscarrock The City-Marshal with eight Footmen with the City-Waits and Officers in order then the two Sheriffs and all the Aldermen of London among whom much wondring there was at Aldermen Ireton in their Scarlet Gowns and rich Trappings with Footmen in Liveries Red-coats laced with Silver and Cloath of Gold The Maces and Heralds in their Rich coats the Lord Mayor bare carrying the Sword his Excellency and Duke of Buckingham bare also and then as the lustre to all this splendid Triumph rode the King himself between his two Royal Brothers which order he had all along ever since the overture of his return observed After them came a Troop bare with White Colours then the General 's Life-guard and another Troop of Gentry Last of all Five Regiments of the Army-Horse with Back Brest and Head-piece which diversified the Show with delight and Terrour Thus have you in a view all that pleased and gratified the Eye but no Pen or Tongue is able to express those ravishing and loud musical notes of Acclamations and Vive le Roy's which charmed the Ears of all Loyal Subjects even to Extasie and Transportation and with which his Majesty himself who endured the din of it all that day was so pleasingly affected With these joyful accents he was brought to his Palace of White-hall where after the Lord Mayor had took his leave his Majesty went up to the Lords where a Speech was made to him in the Banqueting-house where both Lords and Commons awaited him by the Earl of Manchester Speaker of the House of Lords by which that Posterity may know the sense of the Kingdome upon this Miraculous Change it is here Recorded THat this day may prove happy to your Majesty is the hope the Expectation and the earnest desire of my Lords the Peers whose Commands are upon me to make this humble Tender to your Majesty of their Loyal joy for your Majesties safe Return to your Native Kingdome and for this happy Restoration of your Majesty to your Crown and Dignity after so long and so severe a Supression of your just Right and Title I shall not reflect upon your Majesties Sufferings which have been your Peoples Miseries yet I cannot omit to say That as the Nation in general so the Peers with a more personal and particular sense have felt the stroke that cut the Gordian Knot which fastned your Majesty to your Kingdome and your Kingdome to your Majesty For since those strange and various Fluctuations and Discomposu●es in Government since those horrid and unparallel'd Violations of all Order and Iustice Strangers have Ruled over us even with a Rod of Iron But now with satisfaction of heart we own and see your Majesty our Native King and Son of the wise a Son of the antient Kings whose hand holds forth a Golden Scepter Great King Give me leave to speak the Confidence as well as the Desires of the Peers of England Be you the Powerful Defender of the true Protestant Faith the Iust Assertor and Maintainer of the Laws and Liberties of your Subjects so shall Judgment run down like a River and Justice like a mighty stream and God the God of your Mercy who hath so miraculously preserved you will establish your Throne in Righteousness and in Peace Dread Soveraign I offer no flattering Titles but speak the Words of Truth you are the desire of Three Kingdoms the Strength and the Stay of the Tribes of the People for the moderating of Extremities the reconciling of differences the satisfying of all interests and for the restoring of the collapsed Honour of these Nations Their Eyes are toward your Majesty their Tongues with loud Acclamations of Ioy speak the thoughts and Loyal intentions of their Hearts their Hands are lift up to Heaven with Prayers and Praises and what Oral Triumph can equal this your Pomp and Glory Long may your Majesty Live and Reign a Support to your Friends a Terrour to your Enemies an Honour to your Nation and an Example to Kings of Piety Iustice Prudence and Power that this Prophetick Expression may be verified in your Majesty King Charles the Second shall be greater than ever was the greatest of that Name His MAjESTIES Gracious Answer to the Earl of Manchester's Speech My Lord I Am so disordered by my Iourney and with the Noise still sounding in my Ears which I confess was pleasing to me because it expressed the Affections of my People as I am unfit at the present to make such a Reply as I desire yet thus much I shall say unto you That I take no greater Satisfaction to my Self in this my Change than that I find my Heart really set to endeavour by all means for the Restoring of this Nation to their Freedome and Happiness And I hope by the advice of my Parliament to effect it Of this also you may be confident That next to the Honour of God from whom principally I shall ever own this Restoration to my Crown I shall study the Welfare of my People And shall not only be a True Defender of the Faith But a Iust Assertor of the Laws and Liberties of my Subjects This passed the King retired to Supper and soon after to his rest where it was time he should find it after so many difficulties and turmoils in the World for Twenty whole years together But the Citizens were not so weary of their Joy and Triumph for as soon as Night came an Artificial day was begun again the whole City seeming to be one great Light as indeed properly it was a Luminary of
Loyalty the Bonfires continuing till day-break fed by a constant supply of Wood and maintained with an equal excess of gladness and fewel Thus far this memorable and miraculous Affair hath carried me not willing to break off the gladsome speculation and review of his glory and happy Influences I must now a little retrospect to what passed at home in the Parliament and Kingdome Several Acts were in agitation one for removing and preventing all questions and disputes concerning the Sitting and Assembling of this present Parliament as also that of Oblivion and Indempnity and another for Sales and Purchases and in the mean while it was ordered by the Lords That a stop be put to the demolishing defacing or committing wast in any Houses or Lands belonging to his Majesty and that no Wood nor Timber should be felled and the like done in the Lands belonging to the Duke of Buckingham the Lord Craven and Sir Iohn Stawel The Commons ordered Ten thousand pounds to be sent as a present to the Duke of York also that the Scotch Colours taken at Preston Dunbar and Worcester and hung up in Westminster-hall should be taken down which was accordingly executed and the Kings Arms placed in the Courts of Judicature Col. Harrison one of the Kings most malicious Judges was apprehended in Staffordshire and brought up to London and by his Excellencies Order Committed to the Tower while Whitehall was then a preparing for his Majesty The House of Commons taking into consideration the business of the Piedmont-Collection-money declared their detestation and abhorrence of the diversion of the said Money from the charitable uses to which pretendedly it was designed The King was Proclaimed with great joy throughout the Nation while divers of the Kings Judges out of consciousness of their guilt escaped beyond Sea In Ireland also the King was by the Convention there Assembled Proclaimed with the usual Ceremonies Several of the eminentest of that Nation were also ordered to be sent to his Majesty in the name of that Kingdome with a present of Four thousand pound to the Duke of York so sympathetically did the Irish Harp move with the same touches on the English The most Illustrious Princes the Dukes of York and Gloucester went to the House of Lords and there took their places whither the next day came the King himself by Water in the Brigandine which brought him aboard the Charles from Holland the Yeomen of the Guard making a lane the Heralds at Arms in their rich Coats the Maces and the Lord General Bare-headed before him being seated the Commons were called to whom the King in a Speech pressed very much the Act of Oblivion and Signed some Bills viz. One for Confirmation of the Parliament Another for the Tax of Seventy thousand pounds per Mensem for three Moneths from the 24 of Iune A third for continuance of Process and Judicial Proceedings and then returned to Whitehall where he chose the Lords of his Privy Council among whom were several of the Long Parliament His Majesty also graciously and judiciously provided for the Benches and Courts of Judicature for the Chancery the Lord Chancellour Hide for the Rolls the Lord Culpepper who soon after dyed and the place was by the Kings favour bestowed on Sir Harbottle Grimstone for the Kings Bench Sir Robert Foster Justice Mallet and Sir Thomas Twisden in the Common-Pleas Justice Atkins and in the Exchequer Sir Orlando Bridgeman Sir Ieoffry Palmer Attorney and Sir Heneage Finch Sollicitor-General Mr. Iohn Heath son of Sir Robert Atturney to the Dutchy But of this a fuller account Several Persons guilty of the Murther of King Charles the First making their escapes beyond Sea a Proclamation drawn up by the Parliament was published by his Majesty summoning the persons therein named who sate gave Judgment and Assisted in that horrid and detestable Fact to render themselves within Fourteen days after the Publication of that His Majesties Royal Proclamation to the Speaker or Speakers of the Parliament or to the Lord Mayor of London or to the respective Sheriffs of the Counties of England and Wales and that no person should presume to conceal or harbour them under misprision of Treason whereupon divers came in and submitted and were secured in the Tower Several Addresses were made to the King from the Nobility and Gentry of all the Counties congratulating his Majesties Restitution to his Throne and Kingdoms and testifying their exceeding joy and willingness to maintain his Majesties Royal Person and Authority Divers eminent persons for their service and affection to his Majesty were honoured with Knighthood The House of Commons ordered that others besides the Actual Judges of the King should be excepted out of the Act of Oblivion which was now very far proceeded in as namely Andrew Broughton Phelps Iohn Cook Hugh Peters and Edward Denby This so affrighted others who had a hand in that execrable business that Colonel Iohn Hutchinson a Member in this Parliament and Colonel Francis Lassells Petitioned the House confessing their guilt and withal the Artifices that were used to draw them in and by this submission obtained Pardon upon some forfeitures Hugh Peters was taken about this time in Southwarke at first he denyed his Name but being brought before Sir Iohn Robinson then made Lieutenant of the Tower he was known and acknowledged himself and was there secured The Parliament thought not themselves nor the people of England freed from that guilt and punishment which our unhappy times had contracted unless they laid hold on his Majesties Grace mentioned in his Declaration from Breda and therefore Resolved That the House doth declare that they do in the Name of themselves and all the Commons of England lay hold on his Majesties gracious Pardon mentioned in his Declaration with reference to the excepting of such as shall be excepted in an Act of Pardon and accordingly a Declaration was made and presented to the King by Master Denzill Hellis His Majesty was graciously pleased to signifie his readiness and willingness to comply with that his Royal Word and gave direction for a Proclamation to that purpose In the mean while several of the eminentest in Offices under the Usurpation to make sure of this Grace offered from Breda got their particular Pardons exemplified under the Great Seal of England as they were well advised by the notoriety of their Guilt and their distrustful Consciences to secure and discharge which trouble the King was more than ordinary pressing for a speedy Passing of the Act of Oblivion as on the other side his Sentiments of those services to his Restitution gave him the immediate resolutions of dignifying those Illustrious Personages who most instrumentally and principally did accomplish it And therefore on the 12 of Iuly he honoured the most noble General Monck with the Titles of Duke of Albemarle which Dutchy formerly was appropriate to the Blood Royal and was extinct in the Reign of Henry the
Fourth the Demeasnes and Jurisdiction whereof lay in the Dutchy of Normandy in France under the English Soveraginty and Earl of Torrington in his own native County of Devon and Baron of Potheridge his own Patrimony Beauchamp and Teyes by which he hath right of Peerage in the three Kingdoms whose equal Felicity and Honour he advanced and raised before himself and now most deservingly shared with them by his Investiture in these Dignities which were compleated Iuly the 13 by his taking his place in the House of Lords attended by the House of Commons and introduced by the Duke of Buckingham In the same month General Montague was created Earl of Sandwich Viscount Hinchingbrooke his famous Mannor in Huntingtonshire and Baron of St. Neots in the same County and on the 16 of Iuly took likewise his place in the House of Peers where they both shine with that degree of splendor by which the Duke reduced and the Earl dawned at the day of Englands Glory and Liberty The Duke of Ormond was likewise made Earl of Brecknock and took his place among the Peers of England he was also made Lord Steward of his Majesties Houshold as the Earl of Lindsey was made Lord High-Chamberlain the Earl of Manchester Lord Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold and the Earl of Southampton Lord High-Treasurer of England Sir Frederick Cornwallis was made Treasurer of the Kings Houshold by an old Grant and Sir Iohn Berkley Comptroller and other Royalists were made Officers therein Several presents were made to the King from the several Cities and Boroughs of the Kingdom in Gold and Plate and resignation of Fee-farm-rents purchased from the Usurpers among the rest the City of London with a Complement of their good Stewardship by the mouth of their Recorder Sir William Wilde rendred their like Grant of New Parke in Surrey All the Rents accruing at Michaelmas-day were now secured from the late Purchasers of Kings Queens Bishops Dean and Chapters lands for the use of the right and unquestionable Proprietors to the defeating the miserable and unjust covetousness of such undue and unwarrantable penniworths A splendid Embassy came this Month of August from Denmark to congratulate his Majesties most happy Restitution as a little before the Lord Iermyn newly made Earl of Saint Albans the Title last failing in the renowned Marquess of Clanrickard Vlick de Burgh who had so eminently asserted his Majesties Rights in Ireland and after the reduction thereof came into England and died in London in some distress far unfitting his nobleness of minde as well as former most honourable Estate a while before the Kings Return was sent to France in the quality of Lord Embassador Extraordinary to that Crown Soon after the Prince de Ligne with a right Princely Train and retinue becoming the grandeur of the Affair he was sent to Congratulate from his Majesty of Spain betwixt whom and this Kingdom a Peace after a six years War was lately Proclaimed was with great state received and had solemn Audience by the King and departed and was succeeded by the Baron of Battevile to be Resident and Embassador in Ordinary at this Court. From the French King soon after came another Illustrious and grand Personage upon the same account by name the Count of Soissons who had married the Cardinal's Neece and entred and was entertained here with all sumptuous and extraordinary Magnificence In sum there was no Prince nor State in Europe who sent not or were not a sending their Embassador upon this wonderful occasion The Parliament after many debates and disputes alterations and insertions at last finished the Act of Oblivion which was extraordinary comprehensive and indulgent to the regret of many injured Royalists who found no better perswasive to their acquiescence in it but their unalterable duty to the King whose special Act this was Out of this were only excepted the Regicides and Murderers of their late Soveraign as to Life and Estate besides Colonel Lambert and Sir Henry Vane and Twenty others reserved to such Forfeitures as should by Parliament be declared the principal of these were Sir Arthur Haselrig Oliver Saint Iohn William Lenthal the Speaker Mr. Ny the Independent Minister Burton of Yarmouth and some Sequestrators Officers and Major-Generals of the Army amongst whom was Desborough Pine Butler Ireton c. They passed likewise an Act for a perpetual Anniversary Thanksgiving on the 29 of May the day of his Majesties Birth and Restauration a day indeed memorable and the most auspicious in our English Kalendar and worthy of a Parliaments Canonization Both which his Majesty gave his Royal Assent to as at the Adjournment to another for Disbanding of the Army and paying off the Navy which once looked upon us with the same feared perpetual danger as the Mamalukes or Ianizaries but by this happy conjuncture of his Majesties Fortune with his Wisdom and Goodness yielded after many Modules to its last Dissolution Great sums by Pole-money and other Assessments were imposed and speedily and cheerfully levied and paid to finish this desired work which had before wasted so many Millions of Treasure Mr. Scowen Mr. Pryn Col. King and Sir Charles Doyley were appointed Commissioners to disband them to which the Souldiery very willingly and with thanks to the King submitted the King giving them a Weeks pay as a Donative and Largess The Parliament adjourned till the 6 of November These Felicities of the King we have hitherto insisted on as the course of all worldly things is guided were abated and allayed by the immature and most lamented Death of the right Excellent Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester his Majesties youngest Brother a Prince of very extraordinary hopes Silence will best become our lamentation for his vertues and our loss of them transcend expression He died of the Small-pox Aged Twenty years and two months after much Blood-letting and was Interred with a private Funeral in Henry the Seventh's Chappel at Westminster just before the arrival of his Sister the Princess of Orange who came to joy and felicitate her Brothers in their happy Restitution With the King and Monarchy the Ecclesiastical Regiment by Bishops recovered it self by his Majesties Piety and Prudence that Aphorism being most sadly verified No Bishop No King and therefore on the 20 of September Dr. Iuxon Bishop of London that antient and excellent Prelate was by the King translated from that See to the Arch-bishoprick of Canterbury which was performed with great Solemnity and not long after several new Bishops persons the most eminent and valiant assertors of the Church and Laws of England were Consecrated in the Abby at Westminster and all the Diocesses filled of which together presently in an ensuing Catalogue Divine Vengeance had with a slow foot traced the murtherers of our Martyr'd Soveraign and through several Mazes at last overtook them the iron hand of Justice delivering them to the punishment due to that grand impiety nor was it
pleaded the same and desired the Courts mediation Iohn Downes Vincent Potter Augustine Garland Simon Meyne Iames Temple Peter Temple Thomas Wayt and William Heveningham set again at the Bar. Something extraordinary must be said of Downes because he obliged the Court to hear him in these words and they are worthy of mans memory which he expressed in that abominable Judicature upon the Kings request of hearing in Parliament as he sate between Colonel Wauton and Mr. Cawley and Oliver Cromwel said I Have we hearts of stone or are we men They laboured to appease me they told me I would ruine both my self and them Said I If I dye for it I must do it Cromwel sate just the seat below me He hearing of me make some stir by whispering he looked at me and asked if I was my self what I meant to do that I could not be quiet So I started upon the nick when the Clerk was Commanded by Bradshaw to Read the Sentence I stepped up and said My Lords I have Reasons to offer against it and I desire the Court may adjourn to hear me Presently Bradshaw viewed me and said If any Member dissented they must adjourn So they did into the Court of Wards where I alledged the Kings general satisfaction to the Parliament that a Common Prisoner was not used so but that he might be heard I urged the Order of Parliament that upon any emergency or renata in the Court we should apply our selves to them To which Cromwel answered Sure you do not know that you have to deal with the hardest hearted man in England And much other incitation was used by some of those that are doomed whom he desired favour not to nominate telling me I was either a Sceptick or an Infidel Vincent Porter was troubled with a fit of the Stone and could hardly endure standing and had a Chair to ease himself and confessed the whole guilt Augustine Garland was further accused of spitting in the Kings face besides his sitting He answered he was a Parliament man but in 1648 and drawn into this business and desired no favour from God if he was guilty of that inhumanity to avoid which imputation he made this troublesome defence Simon Meyn Iames and Peter Temple Pleaded ignorance and no malice Colonel Thomas Wayt Pleaded the same with Downs for withdrawing the Court and his Courtesies to the Cavaliers Party and preventing a Petition for the Kings Murther in Rutland-shire and that the first day he came to Town Cromwel made him sit the last day of the Court of Justice Sir Hardress Waller brought again to the Bar gave evidence of his penitence which my Lord Finch his kinsman allowed here and deplored him Heveningham did shew his sorrow but both were Condemned On Saturday the Fourteenth of October One thousand six hundred and sixty between nine and ten of the Clock in the morning Mr. Thomas Harrison or Major-General Harrison according to his Sentence was upon a Hurdle drawn from Newgate to the place called Charing-cross where within certain Rails lately there made a Gibbet was Erected and he hanged with his face looking towards the Banqueting-house at Whitehall the place where our late Soveraign of Eternal memory was Sacrificed being half dead he was cut down by the common Executioner his Privy Members cut off before his Eyes his Bowels burned his Head severed from his Body and his Body divided into Quarters which were returned back to Newgate upon the same Hurdle that carried it the People loudly shooting at his Fall His Head was since set upon a Pole on the top of the South-east-end of Westminster-Hall looking towards London The Quarters of his Body are in like manner exposed upon some of the City-Gates Monday following being the Fifteenth of October about the same hour Mr. Iohn Carew was carried in like manner to the same place of Execution where having suffered like pains his Quarters were also returned to Newgate on the same Hurdle which carried him His Majesty was pleased to give upon intercession made by his Friends his Body to be buried Tuesday following being the Sixteenth of October Mr. Iohn Cook and Mr. Hugh Peters were about the same hour carried on two Hurdles to the same place and Executed in the same manner and their Quarters returned in like manner to the place whence they came The head of Iohn Cook was set on a Pole on the North-East-end of Westminster-Hall on the left side of Mr. Harrison's looking towards London and the Head of Mr. Peters on London-Bridge Their Quarters were exposed in like manner upon the tops of some of the City-Gates Wednesday October Seventeen about the hour of Nine in the Morning Mr. Thomas Scot and Mr. Gregory Clement were brought on several Hurdles and about one hour after Mr. Adrian Scroop and Mr. Iohn Iones together in one Hurdle were carried to the same place and suffered the same death and were returned and disposed of in like manner Mr. Francis Hacker and Mr. Daniel Axtel were on Friday the Nineteenth of October about the same time of the Morning drawn on one Hurdle from Newgate to Tyburn and there both Hanged Mr. Axtel was Quartered and turned back and disposed as the former but the Body of Mr. Hacker was by his Majesties great favour given entire to his Friends and buried Axtel's head was set up at the furthest end of Westminster-Hall Not any one of these at his Death expressed any sorrow or Repentance for the Fact but justified the Authority by which they did it and themselves therein but whether they agreed now by a Combination at their death as in the Conspiracy of the King 's or whether it were not Diabolical infatuation or the Sin and impiety of their Crime that they were given over to a Reprobate sense it is not in man to determine their Party and Abettors in the Rebellion highly magnified this their obstinacy for Christian Courage and printed their Prayers and Speeches with all the advantages Revenge and Rebellion could invent and if they could have brought the Law the sense of the Kingdome nay the whole Word into their mould they might have passed for Martyrs for as to the repugnant s●ffrage of Divine Authority they could and did wrest that with an easie finger Thus much therefore may suffice to Posterity concerning the ends of these men That they were Convicted according to Law whose utmost benefit they had by a Jury of their Peers against whom they had full liberty of exception That the Person of the Prince they Murthered was beyond any parallel by the confession of his Enemies of some of these a most virtuous most Innocent most Religious and Fit for the Government That these his Judges and Murtherers were for the most part nay generally mean and desperate persons and their hands lifted up by Ambition Sacriledge Covetousness and success against the Life of this incomparable Prince whose
indifferency of Spirit had undoubtedly surprized the Magistracy and Government of this Famous City and in him subdued their great Quarrel Authority Sir Arthur Haslerig died a Prisoner in the Tower of London with impatience at the happiness of the Times and Mr. Crofton an eminent stickler for Presbytery came in-his room But we must pass to the Glories of the entrance of the Year One thousand six hundred sixty one the Thirteenth of the Kings Reign Anno Domini 1661. AND now lest any of these scattered Rays and refractions of this Monarchs Glory should be dimmed or disappear in the obscurity of Time we will translate them to their bright Orb as Iupiter is feigned to have Stellified his Heroes encircle them in the Diadem Eternize them in that Spherical Figure and fix them in his Crown the FIRMAMENT of his past present and future greatness the Celebrity of which Action is not less due to the intrinsick matter than to the outward beauteous form it being not so much an excess of Pomp as a Boundary of Government not so much height of Glory as profoundness of State-reason and in that large capaciousness may justly pass for the consummation and perfect excellence of all Regal felicity This was the Crown profaned by the lewd hands of those prostitute Members at Westminster when the Regalia were seized on by them and by H. M. his advice thought fit to be alienated to the Publique that is shared among the Usurpers This was the Crown afterwards violated deprived and widdowed of that Sacred and Royal Head of King Charles the Martyr This was the Crown which alone of all the Insignia of Majesty as Elijah of all the Prophets that had not bowed their knees to Baal abhorred the Idolatry of Cromwel's Usurpation and escaped the ravishing and polluted hands of that Tyrant when like Caligula that set the heads of the gods upon his own Statues he assumed all the other Regalities of his rightful Soveraign but could no way fit this Sacred Symbole of Majesty though he could all other Holy things and the Scripture it self to his impious designments That was that Crown which the Malignity of a dire Pestilence had envied the sight and blessing thereof to the City of London his Majesties Imperial Chamber which sadly felt the other Plagues of War and Want in a more forcible absence of it thereafter at his Royal Fathers Inauguration and was now Boded and bespoke with the like Contagion when never were the Influences of Heaven more curiously propitious the two Serene days of that Solemnity exsiccating and exhaling those vapours which a long moisture to the danger of a Flood did seem to portend Lastly this was that Crown whose just and ancient Discent under which we have flourished ever since we were a Nation till our late Anarchy upon the Head of this Miraculous Prince now vindicated it self from the indignities and assaults of base and insolent Demagogues who from our Kings regardlesness of State and Sovereignty have evermore wrought their contempt in the Subject who now with a like joy of reverence fear and love beheld this awful and most delightful Triumph which is here related HIS Majesty on the Twenty second of April early in the Morning passed from Whitehall to the Tower by Water from thence to go through the City to Westminster Abby there to be Crowned Two days were allotted to the Consummation of this great and most celebrated Action the wonder and admiration and delight of all Persons both Forraign and Domestick and pity it was that the solid and lasting happiness it portended should not have taken up a Month and given it the name Coronalis First therefore we begin with the City of London which participating the greatest share of that inexpressible happiness that the Three Kingdoms received by the auspicious Restoration of the King took occasion to express in this Triumph of his Majesties Coronation their joy and gladness with the greatest Magnificence imaginable They spared not therein any cost to manifest their affectionate duty to the King considering that if ever excessive charges might be justified this signalizing their affection at this time might well be allowed In his passage through Crouched Friers He was entertained with Musick a Band of Eight Waits placed on a Stage Near Algate with another Band of Six Waits in like manner with Musick from a Balcony In Leaden-Hall Street near Lime-Street-end was Erected the First Triumphal Arch after the Dorick Order on the North-side on a Pedestal before the Arch was a Woman personating REBELLION mounted on a Hydra in a Crimson Robe torn Snakes crawling on her Habit and begirt with Serpents and her Hair Snaky a Crown of Fire on her Head a bloody Sword in one hand a Charming Rod in the other Her attendant CONFUSION in a deformed Shape a Garment of several ill-matched Colours and put on the wrong way on her Head Ruines of Castles torn Crowns and broken Scepters in each Hand On the South-Pedestal was a Representation of BRITAIN'S MONARCHY supported by LOYALTY both Women Monarchy in a large purple Robe adorn'd with Diadems and Scepters over which a loose Mantle edg'd with blue and silver Fringe resembling Water the Map of Great Britain drawn on it on her Head London in her right hand Edenburgh in her left Dublin Loyalty all in White three Scepters in her right Hand three Crowns in her left The first Painting on the South-side is a Prospect of His Majesties landing at Dover-Castle Ships at Sea great Guns going off one kneeling and kissing the Kings Hand Souldiers Horse and Foot and many people gazing Above ADVENTVS AVG. The whole Tablet representing his Majesties blessed Arrival Beneath the Painting this Motto IN SOLIDO RURSUS FORTUNA LOCAVIT Alluding to that of Virgil Thus rendred Fortune reviving those She tumbled down Sporting restores again unto the Crown Above the Arch on two Pedestals South-ward and North-wards stood the Statues of King IAMES and King CHARLES I. In the middle somewhat higher just over the Arch the Statue of his Sacred Majesty Under that of King Iames DIVO JACOBO Under that of King Charles I. DIVO CAROLO Under that of his Majesty this following Inscription D. N. CAROLO II. D. G. BRITANNIARUM IMP. OPT. MAX. UBIQUE VENERANDO SEMPER AUG BEATISSIMO AC PIISSIMO BONO REIP. NATO DE AVITA BRITANNIA ET OMNIUM HOMINUM GENERE MERITISSIMO P. P. EXTINCTORI TYRANNIDIS RESTITUTORI LIBERTATIS FUNDATORI QUIETIS OB FELICEM REDITUM EX VOTO L. M. P. S. P. Q. L. Upon his Majesties advance to the East-India-House in Leaden-hall-street the East-India Company took occasion to express their dutiful Affections to his Majesty by two Youths in Indian Habit one attended by two Black-moors the other Youth in an Indian Vest mounted upon a Camel led out by two Black-Moors and other Attendants the Camel having two Panniers filled with Jewels Spices and Silks to be scattered among the Spectators The next Entertainment was
several Prayers which ended the Coif was put on His Majesties Head and the Colobium syndonis or Dalmatica then the Super-tunica of cloth of Gold with the Tissue buskins and Sandals of the same then the Spurs were put on by the Peer that carried them then the Arch-bishop took the Kings Sword and laid it on the Communion-Table and after Prayer restored it to the King which was Girt upon him by the Lord great Chamberlain then the Armil was put on next the Mantle or open Pall after which the Lord Arch-bishop took the Crown into his hands and laid it on the Communion-Table Prayed and then set it on the Kings Head whereupon all the Peers put on their Coronets and Caps the Choire singing an Anthem next the Arch-Bishop took the Kings Ring prayed again and put it on the Fourth Finger of the Kings Hand after which his Majesty took off his Sword and offered it up which the Lord great Chamberlain redeemed drew it out and carried it naked before the King Then the Arch-Bishop took the Scepter with the Cross and delivered it into His Majesties right Hand the Rod with the Dove in the left and the King kneeling blessed him which done the King ascended his Throne Royal the Lords Spiritual and Temporal attending him where after Te Deum the King was again Enthroned and then all the Peers did their Homage The Arch-Bishop first who then kissed the Kings left Cheek and after him the other Bishops After their Homage the Peers all together stood round about the King and every one in their order toucht the Crown upon his Head promising their readiness to support it with their power The Coronation being ended the Communion followed which his Majesty having received and offered returned to his Throne till the Communion ended and then went into St. Edwards Chappel there took off his Crown and delivered it to the Lord Bishop of London who laid it upon the Communion-Table which done the King withdrew into a Traverse where the Lord great Chamberlain of England disrobed the King of St. Edward's Robes and delivered them to the Dean of Westminster then His Majesty was newly arrayed with his Robes prepared for that day and came to the Communion-Table in St. Edward's Chappel where the Lord Bishop of London for the Arch-Bishop set the Crown Imperial provided for the King to wear that day upon his Head Then His Majesty took the Scepter and the Rod and the Train set in order before him went up to the Throne and so through the Choyre and body of the Church out at the West-door to the Palace of Westminster The Oathes of Fealty being casually omitted are here subjoyned as they were sworn in order I William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall be True and Faithful and true Faith and Truth bear unto you ou● Soveraign Lord and your Heirs Kings of England and shall and do and truly acknowledge the service of the Land which I claim to hold of You in right of the Church So help me God Then the Duke of York did the same in these Words Garter principal King at Arms attending him in his Ascent to the Throne I James Duke of York become Your Leigeman of Life of Limb and of Earthly Worship and Faith and Truth shall I bear unto You to live and dye against all manner of Folk The Dukes of Buckingham and Albemarle did the same for the Dukes The Marquesses of Worcester and Dorchester for the Marquesses The Earl of Oxford for the Earls Viscount Hereford for the Viscounts And the Lord Audley for the Barons Note that there were Collects and Prayers said upon the putting on of the Regalia as the Armil the Pall the delivery of the Scepter the Sword all according to ancient Form and upon the setting on of the Crown a peculiar Benediction The Bishop of Worcester's Sermon was Preached upon the 28 of Prov. verse 2. Before the King the Peers now according to their Ranks and degrees proceeded to the said Palace and not as they entred the Abbey but with their Coronets on at the upper end whereof there was a Table and Chair of State raised upon an ascent on the South-East-side of the Hall were two Tables placed the first for the Barons of the Cinque Ports the Bishops and Judges the other for the Masters and six Clerks of Chancery at which Table by some mistake or disturbance the Barons dined At the North-East-end the Nobility at one Table and behinde them close to the Wall the Lord-Mayor the Recorder the Aldermen and twelve principal Citizens in the Court of Common-pleas dined the Officers at Arms. Which Tables being served each had in all three Courses and a Banquet the King came in from the inner Court of Wards where he had staid half an hour and sat down and the Duke of York sate at the end of the same Table on the left hand the Earl of Dorset was Sewer and the Earl of Chesterfield his Assistant the Earl of Lincoln was Carver the Dishes were most of them served up by the Knights of the Bath at the second course came in Sir Edward Dymock who by the service of this day as the King's Champion holds his Mannor of Serivelsby in the County of Lincoln as several other services were performed upon the same account particularly Mr. Henry Howard in behalf of his Brother the Duke of Norfolk for a Mannor in Norfolk gave the King a rich right-hand-Glove during the Coronation with which he held the Scepter He was mounted upon a goodly White Courser himself Armed at all points and having staid a while advanced a little further with his two Esquires one bearing a Lance the other a Target and threw down his Gantlet the Earl-Marshal riding on his Left and the Lord High-Constable on his Right hand when York the Herauld read aloud his Challenge which was done the third and last time at the foot of the Ascent where the King dined and his Gantlet by the Herauld returned to him at every of the three times after it had layn a little while the Challenge was in these words If any person of what degree soever High or Low shall deny or gainsay our Soveraign Lord King Charles the second King of England Scotland France and Ireland defender of the Faith c. and Son and Heir to our Soveraign Lord Charles the first the late King deceased to be right Heir to the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England or that he ought not to enjoy the same Here is his Champion who saith that he lyeth and is a false Traytor being ready in person to Combate with him and on this quarrel will adventure his life against him what day soever he shall be appointed Which read aloud the Earl of Pembrook presented the King with a Guilt Cup fill'd with Wine who drank to his Champion and sent him the said Cup by the said Earl which after three Reverences and some steps backward he drunk off and kept it as his Fee
Edmund Fowel in Com. Devon Kt. created Baronet May 1. Iohn Cropley in Com. Middlesex Esq. created Baronet May 7. William Smith in Com. Bucks Esq. created Baronet May 10. George Cook in Com. York Esq. created Baronet M●● 10. Charles Lloyd in Com. Montgomery Esq. created Baronet May 10. Nathaniel Powel in Com. Sussex Esq. created Baronet May 14. Denny Ashburnham in Com. Sussex Esq. created Baronet May 15. Sir Hugh Smith in Com. Somerset Kt. created Baronet May 16. And so we have glided through this Sphere of Glory in which the ancient honour of the Government is refixed and gives us the full and compleat fight of this wonderful Revolu●●on each Luminary shining in its proper Orb and in its Degree the Soveraign Nobility Clergy and Gentry recovered to their former and distinct Lustre and to say no more the whole community of English Freemen whose state and condition no Nation can parallel from being the servants of servants are become their own Masters and are arrived by this Change to be again the envy that were but lately the scorn and derision of the World In this Consistency the King was desirous to meet this Illustrious Body in Parliament to close those distances and separations and redintegrate the mutual affections endearments and natural kindnesses which the unnaturalness and perverse malignity of the times had by our Divisions abrupted and hitherto discontinued the King had promised so much at the Dissolution of the late Free-Parliament or Convention and accordingly issued out His Writ soon after for their sitting down the Eighth of May a little before which several Musters had been made in England of the Militia and a General Train in London in Hide-Park of Horse and Foot Fourteen Regiments whereof the King was pleased to view there In these Elections it appeared how much a Commonwealth or those Actions which were pretended to be done by the People in Parliament by a few modulers thereof were ever approved for not such a man had a Voyce and the Election of the Free Parliament gave little Encouragement to stand for it the main stickling was between the Episcopal and Presbyterian Parties and even that numerous Party as was said by themselves found how much they were mistaken in the Suffrages of the Kingdome when under no awe nor in the phrensy of misguised Zeal several Letters were intercepted from the chief Ministers of that Perswasion exhorting their Correspondents to do their utmost for favourable Elections to their Discipline and that very confidently after the choyce made at London of persons the most of them of their way But nevertheless that there might not the least remain of the Government be left unjustified and unreared it so happened that far the major part of this House of Commons were not better affected to the Peace of the Kingdome than to the Restauration and Settlement of the Church To this Parliament the King with his Nobles according to the splendid custome of opening these grand Assemblies rode in State and Triumph but because so full a Narrative of such Glory hath already preceded I will not further dazile the Reader The House being met the King sent for the Commons into the House of Lords where most obligingly he declared His content in meeting them most of them being known to him that he was as confident as of any thing whatsoever that it would be a happy Parliament and in conclusion acquainted them with his Resolution of marrying the Infanta of Portugal which Match he said he had proposed to his Privy Council and they had every one highly approved it that he thought none of them would willingly have him live and dye a Batchelour and therefore he had newly made and signed a Treaty with the King of Portugal by his Ambassadour Don Francisco De Mello here Resident and now upon departure with the same Treaty in which this Article of Marriage was inserted And then my Lord Chancellour by His Order gave the Parliament a further Account of His Majesties calling them Sir Edward Turner the Dukes Attourney General was chosen Speaker for the House of Commons who in his Speech to the King expressed the hopes of the Commons that as His Majesty had manifested his great Indulgence to that Adopted so that he had a Blessing left for this his Natural Parliament These Ceremonies being over wherein the dutiful respects of the Houses answered the favour and affection of the King the Parliament proceeded to the Affairs of the Kingdome Near that very time a Parliament began in Ireland after a like happy Convention had been by his Majesties Order from their Adjournment upon his Restitution reassembled in that quality Sir Audly Mervin being chosen Speaker The Convocation of the English Clergy all eminent and most learned pious Persons met on the sixteenth of May at Westminster And the Queen of Bohemia his Majesties Aunt from a long absence of forty eight years returned to White-Hall where She was Married in One thousand six hundred and twelve to the Prince Elector Palatine He return was further signalized by the reviviscency of the memory of the most renowned Marquess of Montross whose Limbs having been set upon the Gates of four distant Cities by the Kirk and Argyles party there were taken down and in State and in all fit Solemnity and with the same Honour brought together and by his Majesties Order whose love and memory of his Servants is one of his many other Princely vertues and great evidence of the sweetness of his Nature and the resolution of the Parliament Interred with a Funeral becoming his Family and as far as such too late evidences and expressions of Grief and Honour could reach his merit his own personal Renown and Glory so much the more indeed conspicuous by the Death and deserved Execution of the Marquess of Argyle who was this Hero's mortal and spightful Enemy that now expiated by a juster Sentence those barbarous violencies he had done to Montross he cunningly defended himself and Pleaded the Kings Pardon and the Treaties in One thousand six hundred and fifty and One thousand six hundred fifty one but there were Crimes of a later date besides the never-to-be-forgotten Treachery of Selling King Charles the first to the English which Condemned him He seemed at his Death to be resolved enough and justified the Covenant and had his Head taken off with the Maiden so is the Axe called in Scotland Near the same time Mr. Iames Guthery one of the Remonstrators and a violent Adversary of the Marquess of Montross and all the Loyal party together with Captain Giffan a ●eneg●do to Cromwel by Sentence and Decree of Parliament were Hanged in Edenburgh so far the Laws and a suffering-sense of the Miseries and Reproaches that Nation lay under by these men and their Partizans guilt did now prevail against the Dominion of the Kirk which had Inslaved and Inchanted the whole mass of that people And for a final blow as these
of Peterborough designed for that Command should arrive And for the Queens own Transportation the Royal Charles which brought the King from Holland was sent with this Fleet. In the mean while the Queen of Bohemia the King's Aunt died February 13. aged 66 years having been out of England 49 years and survived all the misfortunes of her Family which almost from the time of her Marriage in 1612. on St. Valentines day on the eve of which she now died had fallen very thick and chiefly and solely upon it She now came to her rest among her Royal Ancestors and Relations whose Glories and Honours she left more flourishing and greater than ever Her Decease was followed with a most violent and Tempestuous Winde February the 18th by which several persons were killed and much damage done in all parts of the three Kingdoms and in Forrain Countries which might give notice that all those Troubles and Calamities this Princess had suffered and by which most parts of Europe were Tempested were quite blown over and she gone to her last Repose A very unfortunate accident happened the same Month The Lord Buckhurst but now mentioned his Brother Mr. Edward Sackvile Sir Henry Bellasis Knight of the Bath Son and Heir to the Lord Bellasis Mr. Bellasis Brother to the Lord Faulconbridge and Mr. Wentworth Son to Sir George accompanying an acquaintance out of Town upon their Return being informed there were High-way men and Thieves in the Road meeting a Tanner and suspecting him for one of them after some resistance made by him killed him for this mischance they were Arraigned at the Kings Bench Bar but by the Iury quitted it not being probable that Persons of their Estates and Quality would set upon a single Person to do him injury but it might happen meerly by a mistake and good intent of freeing the Road. The Parliament had under their consideration the bringing of Lambert and Vane to their Tryal being excepted out of the Act of Oblivion as main Authors and Contrivers of those Troubles in the Rebellion and therefore desired His Majesty that he would be pleased to send for them from their remote Prisons they were in that they might be brought to Tryal that such bold Treasons might not pass with impunity On the other hand that they might testifie their acknowledgments to the Duke of Albemarle of his great merit and services in the Redemption of his Country they by Act now resolved to settle some Mannors and Lands upon him and confirmed the Kings Grants and Patents or what should afterwards by Grants or Patents be conferred on him The Duke of Ormond was likewise presented with the sum of Thirty thousand pounds in Bills of Exchange as a gratuity from the Parliament of Ireland in respect of the Services he had done that Kingdome in the same capacity before where also the Bill of settlement of Lands was the sole Affair in Debate the difficulty about Claims of the English and Irish intricating and perplexing the Bill so that the Dukes presence was very much desired as by whose prudence understanding and competent knowledge together with his equal relation to both Parties that tedious Work could only be accommodated which brings with it the conclusion of the year 1661 the 14 th year of the King Anno Domini 1662. THE beginning of this and the end of the last year was remarkable with a very notable Providence which for the more compact account of it is totally referred hither It hapned that among other the Fugitives for the parricidial Conspiracy in the Death of the King Miles Corbet Colonel Okey and Col. Barkstead which had traversed most parts of Low and some of High Germany where they had for a while resided at the City of Hanow under borrowed names about the beginning of March were returned to Delf in Holland having appointed their Wives to meet them there to understand their Affairs in England but these their Letters being intercepted and opened by the vigilance of Sir George Downing His Majesties Resident at the Hag●e they were all three taken together at Barkstead's and Okey's Lodging just as Corbet after Supper was going home by the Thief-takers and the Marshal of that Town Okey offered a resolute Escape Barkstead denyed himself and desired he might fetch his Cloak in the next Room Corbet as he said having taken Physick that day fell a Purging upwards and downwards in a very strange manner Sir George himself was present at the seizure and had them that Night secured in the common and ordinary Prison and thence conveyed them by the States order on Board the Blackmore Frigot then accidentally at Helve●t-Sluce having only brought over Mr. Armorer sent from the King to the Lords upon special occasions About the end of March they came to Gravesend where Sir Iohn Robinson Lieutenant of the Tower by Warrant from his Majesty with a Guard carried them to the Tower whence on the 16th of April they were brought to the Kings Bench Bar and there demanded what they could say for themselves why they should not die according to Law the Act of Attainder being read to them To which they alledged they were not the same persons mentioned therein whereupon Witnesses being ready were called and a Jury impannelled who gave verdict that they were the same persons and so the Lord Chief Justice Foster proceeded to Sentence which was the same with the former complices and sufferers for that Fact and was Executed on Saturday April the 19 at Tyburn where they with better ends than any of the rest acknowledged their resolved acquiescence under the Kings Government as of God and exhorted others to do so especially Colonel Okey a person that for his valour and other good qualities was pitied by all men for his being so blinded and ensnared in this Crime to his destruction They all pretended no malice to his late Majesty and their mistake of the Parliaments Authority for good and sufficient They were all three Hanged Bowelled and Quartered but his Majesty was graciously pleased out of regard to Colonel Okey's Christian and dutiful carriage to return his Quarters to his Friends to be interred which was done in the Chappel of the Tower by the Rites appointed in the Common-Prayer to prevent the unruly concourse of the Fanaticks who assembled in multitudes to accompany his Corps insomuch that the Sheriffs were forced to disperse them Barkstead's and Corbet's quarters were set upon the Gates the Head of the former upon a Pole on Traytors Gate in the Tower and Corbet's on London-Bridge For this kindeness and civility of the Dutch States the King ordered his Resident to thank them in his Name from which parts several of the Fanaticks that fled thither upon the Kings Restitution about this time travelled into Germany an invitation being published from one of the Princes there for all Nations to come and inhabit with full priviledges and immunities certain waste places of his
disaffection to the Government but not many they were that were upon this account outed and discharged By virtue of the Allyance and Treaty with the Crown of Portugal several Forces were sent hence to Assist that Kingdome against the prevailing Power of the Spaniard who just at the Majority of that King and his taking the Government into his own hands had made a formidable Invasion and Progress into those Dominions These Forces most of them immediately set Sayl from Dunkirke some Troops and Companies Landing there from Leith all Commanded in chief by his Excellency the Earl of Inchiqueen the famous Souldier in Ireland Colonel Morgan late Governour of Scotland being his Major-General they arrived well and in good health there on the Twenty ninth of Iune and after a little refreshment and being prohibited to eat the Fruit of the Countrey for fear of Fevours and other Distempers advanced towards the Campania but the Spaniard having notice thereof thought it not advisable to Fight with them in their strength and vigour but to waste them with the usual incommodities of those Climates to us and retreated back again immediately into Spain In Iuly following the Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland His Majesty having given him a very Honourable and friendly farewel and having received the like civilities from the whole Court set forwards in his Journey and Voyage to that Kingdome where he Arrived three weeks after and was most Magnificently received into the City of Dublin and congratulated and welcomed by the whole Body of that People in Parliament to whom in their Assembly he delivered himself in a most Excellent Speech There was mention made before of the Commissioners for Regulating Corporations for the securing of the peace of the Kingdome by these Gentlemen named for each County City and Borrough it was ordered besides the displacing of Officers that the Walls of the respective Cities and Towns of Gloucester and Coventry Northampton Taunton and Leicester and other places which had Bulworks and Garrisons and maintained them throughout the War against the King and were the Reception of and maintenance the Rebellion should be demolished as Examples and Security to successive times the County-Troops and respective Trained Band-Regiments guarded these places when they were Demolished Dr. Gauden the Bishop of Exeter died about this time September as also William Lenthal the Speaker of the Long Parliament very penitently The Town of Dunkirk taken from the Spaniard in One thousand six hundred fifty eight and kept ever since at a vast and great charge was by advice of the Lords of his Majesties Privy Councel as being never annexed by Act of Parliament to the Crown of England returned to the French King who upon surrender of it in the year aforesaid delivered it unto us Now for the sum of Five hundred Thousand pounds fully paid that Fortress was delivered into the Possession of the French under the Government of the Count d'E●irades and his Deputy the Marquess of Montpear two English Companies with the Governour only Guarding the Gates at their entrance and delivering the Keys of the same Town The Honourable Sir Edward Nicholas having served his Majesty and his Father as Secretary of State for many years obtained his Quietus est from the King who would have dignified his Merit with a Barrony which Sir Edward modestly declined because His Majesty should not increase the Nobility and Sir Henry Bennet late the Kings Resident in Spain a very excellent Person was named to that Preferment Among these and the like Honours conferred by the King upon his Faithful and Loyal Servants and Subjects which the purport of this Chronicle obliged me to take notice off and be their Herauld this time challenged my observance of a Dignity conferred on that eminent and worthy Personage Dr. Iohn Berkenhead Knighted with a Testimony from his Majesty that he had done his Father and himself very signal and great services during the last twenty years Revolution and there is scarce any Honest man in the Three Kingdoms who will not say Amen to this his Majesties EVGE There had been suspition of a Plot and the City Trained Bands had watched and warded every Night for the most part of the Summer ever since the Kings departure to meet the Queen but now the Design appeared the first named was one Captain Baker a New-England-man an acquaintance of Hugh Peters there and preferred to be one of Olivers Band of Pensioners this Fellow acquaints one Hill the Son of a Phanatick or Independant Preacher in the Street and tells him of a Designe and brings him acquainted at several Meetings of divers of the Conspiracy which he having good information of revealed with the names of the Conspirators to Sir Richard Brown Some of those engaged thus only met and heard and reported their discourses of Arms and other preparations to their own gang but approved the Treason so well that they never discovered it This Plot was against the Sacred Life of the King the Duke of York the noble Duke of Albemarle and Sir Richard Brown and generally the Bishops Nobility Gentry and Commonalty that were not of their Opinions and Assisted them not and they had ready prepared a draught of their Government their Councels were carried on by six who never sate twice in a Place nor could be known to any two their Commander in chief was Ludlow Colonel Danvers Mr. Nye Mr. Lockyer and one Lieutenant Strange the Captains Spencer and Taverner were favourable to the Design and would surprize Deal Castle in Kent as Windsor was certain to be theirs and the Word the Night they were to fall on which after several put offs was appointed the last of October was to be given them by George Phillips a Serjeant in the Colonels Company of the White Regiment For this the Eleventh of December the said George Phillips Thomas Tongue a Distiller of Strong Waters Francis Stubs being a Cheesmonger Iames Hind Gunner Iohn Sellers Compass-maker and Nathanael Gibs Felt-maker were Convicted by Evidence of their fellow-Conspirators Edward Rigge Bradley and others only Hind Pleaded Guilty and craved the King's Mercy they alledged they never Acted such Trayterous intentions but the Design was proved to have been communicated and laid open to them after their full Defence they were all found Guilty and on the Twenty second of December Phillips Tongue Gibs and Stubs were Executed according to Sentence but His Majesty was graciou●ly pleased to give their Quarters to be buried but their Heads to be set up upon several Poles two on each Tower-Hill the nearest place to the Tower On the Twenty sixth of December his Majesty to satisfie the Kingdome of his intents in reference to the unsatisfiedness of Dissenters to the Established Settlement of the Church expressed his Indulgence to their Consciences so far as such Liberty would not Disturb the Publick Peace nor entrench upon the Orthodox Religion professed and that he
Duke of Ormond who hath so often Governed this Realm hath given the greatest pledges of assurance of an happy Establishment whose beginning I will not trouble with the short-lived rumours of Commotions and Stirs now very frequent and rise by the Arts of our Male-Contents Thus far have I deduced the account of the Three Kingdoms from the most Funest War to a blessed and most promising Peace to us and our Posterity and may there be in the succeeding years of His Majesties and his Royal Progenies Reign which Almighty God derive through innumerable descents no other occasion of our Pens than the gratulatory Records of our undisturbed unalterable Repose Plenty and Tranquillity A BRIEF ACCOUNT Of the most Memorable TRANSACTIONS IN ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND AND Forein Parts From the Year 1662 to the Year 1675. LONDON Printed by I. C. for T. Basset at the George near Cliffords-Inne in Fleetstreet 1676. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF TRANSACTIONS IN ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND c. THere is a justice due to the Memory of Actions as well as the Memory of Men and therefore since the times of Usurpation have had the favour done them as to have the Transactions of those Years publikely recorded though to the shame of those Times that had nothing but Enormity to signalize 'em with more justice may we assay to take a short view of those great and Noble Actions perform'd in the succeeding Years Not that we pretend to a History but in short ●●●nals and brief Collections to facilitate the way for those that shall hereafter take a larger and more considerable pains Anno Dom. 1663. THat which the expectations of people were most fix'd upon the beginning of this Year was the Session of Parliament which beginning on the 19 th of February 1662 continued to the 27 th of Iuly 1663. The first thing remarkable was a Petition of both Houses Representing that notwithstanding his Majesties unquestionable zeal and affection to the Protestant Religion manifested by his constant prosession and practice against all temptations whatsoever yet by the great resort of Iesuits and Romish Priests into the Kingdom the Subject was generally much affected with jealousie that the Popish Religion might much encrease and the Church and State be thereby insensibly disturb'd upon which the King set forth a Proclamation Commanding all Iesuits and Irish Scotch and English Priests to depart the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales before the 14 th of May then next ensuing upon pain of having the penalty of the Laws inflicted upon them But while they are bringing other Consultations to maturity many other things preceding the Conclusion of their deliberations are to be related In April his Majesty kept the Feast of St. George at Windsor where the Duke of Monmouth and the Prince of Denmark by his Deputy Sir George Carteret Vice-chamberlain were install'd Knights of the Garter Toward the later end of May came News from Iamaica that the English under the Command of Capt. Mymms being about 800 men had made an attempt upon the City of Campeach in the Golden Territories of the King of Spain and that they took the Town though defended with four Forts and 3000 men But the Spaniards having intelligence of their coming had sent away their Women and Riches yet though they miss'd their chief aim they took the Governour brought away 50 pieces of Ordnance and 14 Ships which were in Harbor The beginning of Iune brought News of a Conspiracie of several wicked persons in Ireland who were endeavoring to raise a new Rebellion there by surprizing the Castle of Dublin The Designe was to have been put in execution upon the 21 th of May and the D●ke of Ormond first to be seiz'd To which effect divers persons with Petitions in their hands were to wait in the Castle while 80 Foot in the disguise of Handicrafts-men attended without Their business it was to trifle about for an opportunity to surprize the Guards The Plot was discovered and 500 lib. a head set upon five of the Ringleaders to what persons soever should apprehend them About this time his Majesty caus'd the Earl of Middleton's Commission as Commissioner of Scotland to cease and appointed the Earl of Rothes to succeed him in the same Quality On the third of Iune His Majesty by his Commission under the Great Seal of England to the Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Duke of Albemarle Marquess of Dorchester and Lord High Chamberlain pass'd ten Bills which were all private ones but three of which the chiefest was for repair of the High-ways of Huntington Hertford and Cambridge-shires About the beginning of December Mr. Paul Rycaut Secretary to the Earl of Winchelsey came from Constantinople bringing with him the Grand Seigniors Ratifications of the several Treaties made with Argier and as a mark of the Kings satisfaction in the management of his Employment and the Message he brought His Majesty was pleas'd to honour him with a fair gold Chain and a Medal No less mindful was he of the Loyalty of his Island of Iersey and as a reward thereof mu●●bout the same time he order'd a stately silver Mace richly gilt to be bestowed upon the Bayliff or Chief Magistrate of the Island to be born ever after before him and his Successors as an honourable Badge of his Majesties affection to them for their constant adhering both to his Father and Himself It was received with all imaginable demonstrations of joy and the first that had the honour to have it born before him was Philip Carteret Esq. Brother to Sir George Vice-Chamberlain to his Majesty But now so loud and so hainous were the rebellious Treasons daily discovered in the North that it was thought convenient to give requitals of another nature and in the depth of winter to send a Commission of Oyer and Terminer to York for trial of the most notorious Offenders in that Conspiracie Seventeen were first arraign'd ten of which appeared to have been actually in arms at Farnley-wood The Plot was excellently open'd to have been a Designe which came from the Bishoprick about a year before and that an Intelligence was settled between the disaffected there and in Yorkshire as also in Ipswich in Suffolk and other Counties an Oath of Secresie taken and Agents employ'd at London and in the West of England for assistance In Iune preceding two Agitators were sent into Scotland to reconcile the Sectaries there who were entertained at one Oldroyd's house in Deusbury commonly known by the name of the Devil of Deusbury and afterwards divers meetings were appointed at a place called Stanh-house in York-shire Whereupon Marshden and Palmer were sent to London as Agitators to the Secret Committee there and at their return brought Orders to rise the 12 th of Octob. with assurance that the Insurrection should be general and Whitehal be attempted Nottingham Glocester and Newcastle were to be seized as Passes
over the Severn Trent and Tine and Baston in Lincolnshire for a Sea-port to receive Succours out of Holland and other Foreign parts All the Gentry were to be secured and persons were dispatch'd abroad for assistance York they aim'd at but of Hull they absolutely despair'd as Walters affirmed who to give him his due dealt most sincerely Their pretences were to have been the opposal of Excise Subsidies c. to re-establish a Gospel-Magistracie and Ministry to restore the Long Parliament and lastly to curb the Gentry Clergy and Lawyers Fifteen of the seventeen first arraigned were found guilty the chiefest of whom was one Captain Oates Afterwards several others were arraigned who farther confessed how the Designe had been carried on by a private Committee at London That Lambert or Ludlow was propos'd for to have headed them That the Rising was to have begun in Ireland to have followed in England and then in Scotland Of these Cotton Denham and Atkins were the chief who all behaved themselves with a notorious insolence Cotton protesting that he valued his life no more than the Judge did his Handkerchief There was also among them one Corney a Preaching Anabaptist Most of them being convicted and condemned were afterwards executed some at York some at Leeds and others in other places Immediately after this Iames Turner a person for nothing more known than for the confidence of his behaviour came upon the Stage to plead for himself who had been a Sollicitor for others before he was Indicted for Felony and Burglary as one that had robb'd his own most intimate friend Mr. Samuel Tryon breaking into his house and binding him in his bed and then rifling away what he pleased in the house the matter of fact was so ill defended by a tedious Speech of his own that he was condemned and shortly after executed in Leaden-hall-street near Lime-street-end But to go on where this necessary digression interrupted me and to shew how the links of their treasonable Combination hung together at London shortly after was tried a Printer for having had a hand in Printing one of the most execrable Libels that was ever brought to light being a designe all at once upon the Life Honor Authority and Royal Family of the King wherein there was a general Call to a Rising in these very words If there be any City Town or County in the three Nations that will begin this Righteous and Glorious Work referring to the word Revolt they may be assured c. It was also ordered to have met the day appointed for the general Rising He was found Guilty of having advisedly and malitiously Printed the said Libel and was thereupon adjudged to be drawn hanged and quartered After him a Printer a Bookseller and a Book-binder were tri'd for a Misdemeanor found Guilty and fin'd the one a hundred Mark the other two forty Mark apiece all of them to stand in the Pillory and be return'd to Prison till the next Sessions and then to confess their faults in such manner as the Court should direct and to put in Security 400 lib. for themselves and 200 lib. for their Surety never to Print sell or publish any Book but such as should be by Law appointed The prementioned condemn'd Printer was executed accordingly The three others stood in the Pillory in Smithfield and before the Royal-Exchange their Offence being expressed in these words For selling and uttering malitious scandalous and seditio●s Books against the King the State and Peace of the Kingdom Nor must we omit the particular Acts of Providence as well as those which are universal A Story very observable in the preservation of divers Persons of Quality in a house in Holborne who being there met to a considerable number a Link-boy passing under the wall of the House observ'd the House failing who thereupon immediately ran in and bid the Company be gone for the House was falling upon their heads And so returning at the same instant and the Company following him as fast as they could they were no sooner out and clear of the door but the house fell indeed to the ground without any harm to the Company This Month an Antient Gentleman a Portugueze lodging in Hart-street in Covent-Garden having been abroad at his Devotions sent his Servant out to provide him some Fish for his Dinner which being dress'd and serv'd up a little while after the people of the house heard the report of a Pistol but took no farther notice of it A while after that the Gentlemans Servant a Portugueze likewise called Peter Caesar came down and sate to Dinner with the people of the house where he staid most part of the afternoon and then went abroad and came in again Toward the evening he went forth another time and caused a Porter to bring home a large Chest which being carried up stairs the Boy drew it into his Masters Chamber and a good while after called the Porter to help him down with it which he did accordingly But the Chest proving too heavy for the Porter and the Youth another Porter was call'd and so they carried it away to the water-side where it was put into a Boat and the Boy bidding the Water-man cross the water pretending he was to receive mony for the Goods in the Chest from a person that was to meet him there staid a while but no body coming at length in a rage to see himself disappointed caus'd the fellow to row him back again and by the way slipp'd the Chest into the Thames and left it as in a fury to see himself sent of an Errand to so little purpose After this the Boy returned to his Masters Lodging but some blood being discovered upon the stairs the fellow was apprehended next morning the Chest being taken up and opened there was found the body of his Master shot through the head That which moved him to this horrid Villany was a sum of mony between 3 and 400 hundred pound which his Master wore about him in a List. He was afterwards condemn'd and executed at Tyburn Upon the Nineteenth of March the Lord Holles Embassador from his Majesty to the French King received his Audience at Chasteauneuf with great Justice to the Royal Dignity of his Master and with honourable respect to himself The sum of what his Excellencie delivered which was in English tending principally to signifie his Royal Masters Intentions to preserve an Amity and fair Correspondence with that King upon confidence of the like from his Christian Majesty To which the French King's Reply was briefly That his Excellencie might assure his Master the King of Great Britain of as much from himself concluding with some expressions of particular respects to the Person of the English Embassador And it was observable that none of the Princes of the Blood who had got the precedencie of several Embassadors of late years were there to dispute it with Ours This Month the King
of his Majesty Upon the 9 th of December the Right Reverend Humphrey Lord Bishop of London was sworn one of his Majesties most Honorable Privy Council having for his great Worth Learning and Integrity been a little before translated from New Sarum to the more dignifi'd See of London Soon after came news of the death of that Eminent Loyal and Renowned Patriot Judge Ienkins who died at his house at Cowbridge in the 81 year of his age in perfect Sence and Memory He di'd as he liv'd preaching with his last breath to his Relations Loyalty to the King and obedience to the Laws of England leaving behind him an unspotted Fame and the Memory of a President which this Age only could have needed and the next will hardly out-do A great storm threatned the Dutch Merchants trading in the Grand Seigniors Dominions by the miscarriage of their Ships which loading the Grand Seigniors Goods and Merchandize of Turks to the value of 170000 Dollars was surpriz'd by a Malthese But the Turks would not believe but that the Commander of the Dutch Vessel was privy to some Treachery and therefore the Grand Seignior resolving not to lose what was in his power to recover sent for the Holland Resident perswading him that he engag'd for the fidelity of the Master to make him and the Dutch Nation responsible for his loss in order whereunto directions were given to secure the Dutch Merchants in Smyrna and the Resident commanded to abide in Adrianople so that there was no way to redeem him from ensuing mischief but a quick promise of satisfaction In Italy the Pope and King of France were like to have been engag'd in a very great Quarrel For the Pope being incens'd against the King of France for encroaching upon the Church occasion'd by the Popes delay of giving him satisfaction for the injury done to the Duke of Grequi by the Corsi began a serious debate in the Conclave how to proceed against him whether by Excommunication or otherwise though carried in the end for moderation However the King of France possesses himself of Avignon The Pope kept a great bustle at first and made a fair shew as if he would have oppos'd the French King but the King of France having already s●nt some Troops into Italy and ready to advance with a greater Body at length Articles of Agreement were sign'd at Pisa between Bourlemont and Cardinal Rasponi First That the Cardinal Imperial should be confin'd to Genoa during the Kings pleasure That Dom Mario the Popes Brother should be banish'd to Siena for three years not to return to Rome upon any pretence whatsoever That Cardinal Chigi the Popes Nephew should be sent into France where at his first Audience he should desire the French Kings Pardon for himself and his whole Family and in his second Audience in the Name of the Pope supplicate the Christian Kings excuse for the affront given to the Duke of Crequi That the said Duke in his return to Rome by Land should be met at the Frontiers of the State Ecclesiastick by Dom Augusto another of the Popes Nephews if by Sea at a proportionate distance by the Gallies of the Church And the Dutchess of Crequi to be receiv'd at a Leagues distance from Rome by the Wife of Dom Mario That the Duke of Crequi being return'd to Rome shall be there treated with all b●n our due and customary to the Ministers of France That the Duke of Cesarini be restor'd to his Goods and Honors and indemnifi'd for the future and all others who had suffer'd in the King of France's Quarrel The Dutchy of Castro restor'd to the Duke of Parma paying 1200000 Livres at such and such payments The Valley of Cornachio to the Duke of Modena paying 500000 Livres in consideration of the charge of Garrisons That there be a Pillar rais'd in the Palace of the Corsi with an Inscription bearing the substance of their Condemnation Out of which Articles the ground of the Quarrel is easie to be gather'd and how easily a Catholick Prince though one of the Eldest Sons of the Church can dispence with his obedience to the Pope when he has a power and spirit to resist him and that it is not the Law of Nature that the Pope should trample upon the Necks of Princes Rasponi with great reluctancie linger'd out to the last moment but the Pope found himself oblig'd to yield to the King upon his own Conditions While the Christian Princes are thus at difference the Turk enlarges his Dominions laying Siege to New-hausel one of the most considerable Passes and Forts which the Christians had in those parts The Bassa coming before the Town sent in a Summons to Count Fo●gats the Governor in these words I through the Grace of God and through the Miracles of our Prophet who is a Son of both Worlds and by whom there is happiness and glory I that am the first in Council and General of the most Mighty Emperor of the Turks that is the King of all the Kings of the Earth To you Adam Forgats that are the Chief of the Nobility of Hungary Do make known that through the Command of my gratious Lord I am come with his Forces before New-hausel to reduce it to his obedience Wherefore if ye shall deliver up the place to us you shall have liberty to march out with what belongs to you from the highest to the lowest and to what place you please And he that will rather stay shall keep his goods and estate But if you will not yield we will take it by force and every man of ye from the highest to the lowest of you shall be put to the sword If the Hungarians did but know the Intentions of the Mighty Emperor they and their Children would bless God for them Peace be to the Obedient But for all this menacing Summons the Town held out many a brisk Assault of the Besiegers who lost near 20000 of their men before it so that it was verily reported that the Enemy would have quitted the Siege had it held out a week longer But Count Forgats delivered i● up at length contrary to the will of the Germans upon Conditions to march out Bag and Baggage to the next Garrison leaving behind him 60 brass Guns Powder and Ball in proportion 3000 fats of Wine and plenty of Provisions Count Serini watched all advantages yet durst not attempt to relieve it by reason of the smalness of his force and yet in some measure he quit scores with them shortly after For hearing of a great Body of the Enemy who were intending to lay a Ship-bridge over the River Mur he march'd thither and as soon as he understood that two thousand were got over the water he set upon them at such a disadvantage that he put them to the rout their fellows that were coming over fell into such a consternation that they could neither get back nor swim nor
defend themselves so that the River was quite covered with men and Horses The Count made use of the opportunity not taking so much as one Prisoner so that between killing and drowning very few escap'd though above 10000 in all above a thousand of their Horses were taken coming out of the water A considerable prevention of their entring Stiermark and coming up as far as Grats without any possibility of opposition The like success had the Portugals against the Spaniards taking the Town of Ginaldo in Gallicia wherein was the Magazine of Spain Afterwards giving Battle to Don Iohn of Austria who commanded 7000 Horse 12000 Foot and 18 pieces of Ordnance they routed him in the open field and took all his Bag and Baggage being assisted by the English They slew 1000 took 4000 Prisoners and most of the eminent Commanders But a worse fate had attended the Protestants of Piedmont had not they s●outly defended themselves For while their Delegates were pleading for them at Turin under the Protection and Safe-conduct of the Duke of Savoy their Sovereign Prince protesting their Loyalty and Submission to him his Forces to the number of between 16 or 18000 Horse and Foot entred the Valleys at Prerustine St. Bartholomew Rocheplate and other places endeavouring to possess themselves of Angrogue and St. Martins two of the strongest Holds in all the Valley of Piedmont In their way they set all on fire cut and tore the Vines and destroy'd all The Inhabitants seeing themselves assaulted contrary to Faith given and seeing they were undone made head the Fight was hot for the time but though the Savoyards were thirty for one they were at length forc'd to retreat with the loss of above a thousand men kill'd and wounded and many Officers All which was said to be done by the Iesuits Council de Propaganda Fide Anno Dom. 1664. WE shall begin this Year with the Trial of several persons for their Lives being of the same Party with those last Year executed at York The greatest part of their hopes of destroying his Majesty was built upon the confidence of a power they had as well to divide and distract his Friends as unite his Enemies which they endeavour'd to do by divers false and scandalous Rumors which upon all occasions they scatter'd among the people as being one half of their business The Tragedy was to have begun in the Counties of Westmerland Durham and Yorkshire by seizing upon Carlisle all the eminent Persons and Justices of the Peace of the said Counties and what Publick Treasure they could find A small Party met at Kirkby-Steven but failing of their number soon dispers'd themselves again Several were executed particularly at Appleby Robert Waller Stephen Weatherhead and Henry Petty But such was the inveterate malice of these kind of people such was the Influence of Ejected Ministers among them that notwithstanding so many persons had suffer'd the year before yet at Newbury the Mayor and Company of the Town being met upon Easter Tuesday to chuse Church-wardens for the year ensuing they were assaulted by a rude and confus'd multitude of all sorts of Phanaticks some crying one thing and some another and though sundry times excluded by the Constables that were call'd to keep the peace yet they still broke in with fresh clamours crying out that it did not belong to the Mayor and Company but the whole Parish to make the choice In fine they came to this at last that they did not matter who was chosen so one Pocock render'd odious to the Rabble for his Loyalty to the King were not one But Sir Thomas Doleman coming immediately to Town upon notice of the disorder with a Guard of Soldiers seiz'd the chief sticklers who were afterwards proceeded against according to their demerits And understanding that certain Grand Phanaticks being charg'd with Arms refus'd to send in their men he with the rest of the Deputy-Lieutenants caus'd them to be fin'd and levied their fines by distress of their goods In the mean time notice being taken of several dangerous applications made to some Prisoners in the Tower Mildmay Wallop Fleetwood and Garland were sent away to Tangier and certain other Prisoners dispos'd of into other places of security This Month also brought Intelligence of the proceedings of the Earl of Teviot then Governor of Tangier who finding Gayland unwilling to comply with him in his propounded Articles of Peace resolv'd to make use of Force and having worsted the Moor in an Attack which he made upon the English with great courage and vigor for some time afterwards undisturb'd began and finish'd a great part of the outermost Fortifications and to make room for the English and Strangers of better account turn'd all the Jews out of the City Now was it less welcom news for his Majesty to hear that his Embassador Sir Rich. Fanshaw was magnificently receiv'd and entertain'd by the King of Spain in testimony of the high value which that King put upon his Majesties Alliance and the reverence he had for that Correspondence which so great an Embassador was sent to continue and preserve between both Kingdoms But as if the heat of the Spring had warm'd the English bloods His Majesty and his Parliament at this time sitting began to take into their deep Consideration the great Complaints that had been made against the Dutch whose injuries and affronts had not a little enrag'd the Nation Whereupon a Report being made by Mr. Clifford of their Encroachments upon Trade from a Committee appointed to examine that affair Thereupon the House made two Resolves the Substance of which were That the wrongs dishonours and indignities the damages affronts and injuries done by the Subjects of the United Provinces to our Merchants were the greatest Obstructions to Forein Trade That His Majesty should be mov'd to take speedy and effectual course for the redress thereof and that they would assist him with their lives and fortunes against all opposition whatsoever The Lords concurr'd and thereupon both Houses attended his Majesty who declar'd his Royal Sense and high Esteem of their care and tenderness for the Honor and Good of the Nation Letting them farther know That he would examine and prove the particular Complaints that he would demand satisfaction by a Publick Minister and do his utmost endeavour to secure his Subjects from the like Violences for the future depending upon the Promise of both Houses to stand by him Upon which Declaration both Houses return'd their humble and hearty Thanks April 6 th Soon after this the King came to the House pass'd two particular Acts the one for holding Parliaments once in three years at least and repealing a former Act call'd An Act for preventing the inconveniencies by long intermissions of Parliament At the signing thereof his Majesty gave them thanks for their ready concurring in a thing so advantageous to the Nation and for recalling the other so prejudicial and so
much to the discredit of Parliaments as if the Crown were jealous as Parliaments or that Parliaments were jealous of the Crown While these things were transacting Sir Iohn Lawson Admiral of the English Fleet sent into the Mediterranean Sea to repress the Insolencies of the Pirates of Argier sent home seventeen Ships and between two and three hundred men and great store of Goods which those Corsairs had taken prize to the Honor of the Publick and private satisfaction of many Nor can we omit the punishment of a Criminal Book long after the Author's decease For with the same justice may Books as well as men be executed for Treason And therefore long after his death about the beginning of May was Mr. George Buchanans Book De Iure Regni apud Scotos call'd in and suppress'd by an Act of the Parliament of that Kingdom having been condemned before by another Act of Parliament in the year 1584. Nor was it less to the advantage of his Majesties Service that at the same time they issued out another Proclamation To prohibit all persons to seek demand receive or deliver any Contributions or Supplies but what were publickly allow'd and practiz'd without allowance of the Lords of the Privy Council For without Libels and Collections the grand support of Conventicles it is morally impossible to unsettle any Government Among such serious things as these Historians have allow'd themselves to entertain their Readers with miraculous Accidents Which puts us in mind of the portentous Tartar which Count Serini was reported to have taken about this time From the shoulder upward he had the shape of a Giant-like man his Neck long and like that of a Horse with a Man● the lower part of his face like a man with a great wild Beard the upper part like a Horse with large Ears He was arm'd with a great Bowe and a Quiver by his side with a long Dart. If this Relation may not gain sufficient credit yet the Monster may serve to fight many Ages hence with Regulus's his Serpent Another strange Accident was related from the Barbado's then published not without great Authority which was that about 900 miles Eastward of the Barbadoes a Vessel being in her full course a certain great Fish struck the Ship on the Star-board side and passing under it touch'd the Rudder and threw the S●e●rs-man from the Helm and when she came on the other side heav'd a great Sea into the Ship At her first stroke she ran her Horn through the sheathing a three-Inch Plank and threw the Timber into the Cieling where it broke short off so that a piece of 12 Inches long and 100 and a half weight was left in the hole Had not the Horn been broke in the hole the Vessel had been lost for notwithstanding that stoppage the water came in so fast that it kept a Pump imploy'd The Horn was like an Elephants Tooth but more ponderous But passing over these Relations of lighter moment the next Intelligence which we meet withal is of Sir Iohn Lawson who having offer'd all fair Accommodation to the Pyrates of Argier yet finding them disdain his proffer'd Peace he declares open War against them and immediately after took one of their Corsairs of thirty four Guns and 260 men which he sent into Majorca Part of the Prisoners being Turks and Moors he sold to the Duke of Beaufort Admiral to the King of France then in those Seas But now his Majesty mindful of the great work he had in hand had given his particular Instructions to his Embassador in the Netherlands who thereupon about the middle of May gave in his Memorandum to the States of the damages which the English complain'd to have suffer'd by the Subjects of those Provinces But the unprepar'd Belgian not finding it convenient to give such speedy Answers resolv'd to send their own Embassadors to the King himself which as it was a way of answering more magnificent so it was the occasion of greater delay Upon the 17 th of May the Commons being met in the House of Lords His Majesty in a gracious Speech gave both Lords and Commons to understand his Royal Approbation of their Cares and Labors for the good of the Publick together with a Princely acknowledgment of their compliance with his pleasure in the dispatch of the business of the last Sessions Afterwards his Majesty caused them to be Prorogued till the 20 th of August ensuing Withal declaring that unless something extraordinary should fall out it was his Royal purpose not to call them together till November following whereof they should have seasonable notice by Proclamation Upon which Sir Edward Turnor then Speaker represented to his Majesty the humble Thanks of the House for his Gratious acceptance of their endeavours in the Service of his Majesty and the Publick After which he particularly insisted upon the unsettled condition of the Country by reason of Phanaticks Sectaries and Non-conformists and next to that upon the Injuries complain'd of by our Merchants concerning the frauds and practises of our Neighbours the Dutch in the East and West-Indies in Turkey and Africa which besides the Indignities offer'd to his Royal Majesty and the Crown of England were computed to amount to no less than the value of seven or eight hundred thousand Pounds Lastly he presented the Heads of several Bills ready for his Royal assent Accordingly his Majesty sign'd several private and some few publick Acts among the rest An Act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles which though it occasion'd great trouble to the Magistrates of the several Counties yet it made apparent their faithful care and Loyalty to his Majesties Service so that indeed it was the whole employment of this Year to apprehend and try the daily offenders against this Statute His Majesty in the mean time finding it agreeable to his Royal wisdom forthwith to equip two considerable Fleets both to secure his Subjects in their freedom of Trade and maintain the Honor and Interest of the English Nation employ'd some of the Lords of his most Honorable Privy Council to the City of London for the Loan of an hundred thousand pounds upon so extraordinary an occasion referring them to the Lord Treasurer for terms of repayment This was received with so dutiful a compliance by the Common Council of the City that the said Supply was presently Voted acquitting themselves at once both in point of Loyalty and prudence Their present duty and Service to the King manifestly redounding to the welfare and safety of themselves While his Majesty is thus busied in his preparations at home we may look abroad where we are forc'd to behold the fall of the Noble Earl of Teviot who upon the third of May passing the Iews River fell into an ambush planted there by Gayland shelter'd by a thick wood and seconded by his whole Army The Party which the Earl commanded was totally lost excepting a
very few his Memory however is there held in great Honor as if the Memory of his Courage were the Soul of the Garrison And seeing we are got so far abroad it may not be unseasonable to remember the famous Battle fought between the Turks and Christians under the conduct of Montecuculi it being one of the 〈◊〉 famous Occurrences of this year most fatal to the Infidels who that day left dead upon the field the flower of their Infantry to the number of 6 or 7000 among which two Bassaes all their Cannon above forty Colours with Plunder inestimable To which Honorable Victory the wounds of the French did not a little conduce Nor are we so slenderly to pass by another Atchievement of Geneal Souches the general good of Christendom being equally concern'd in both who with an unequal number of only six thousand encountring above 15000 of the Enemy near the Garrison of Lewentz with the loss only of 250 slew eight thousand thereby gaining an absolute Victory vast Booty and Provisions of all sorts All this while though there was open War with Argier and that Lawson kept so vigilant an eye over them yet by reason that either through Cowardize or want of sufficient force they were constrain'd to keep close in their Harbors that sedulous Admiral could do little good upon them otherwise than by blocking up their Harbors to keep them from Roving doing mischief His Majesty therefore having more occasion for so great and eminent a Commander at home sent for both him and C. Berkley into England to employ them against a more Noble Enemy in pursuance of which Order Sir Iohn Lawson returns for England leaving Captain Allen to Command in Chief in his Room who in a short time after brought them to that distress that they were glad to accept of Peace upon terms advantageous enough for the King of England The Divan disowning the Breach and laying the fault upon some few that for their own benefit would not be rul'd by their Superiors As thus his Majesties Arms so were his Counsels active abroad The Earl of Carlisle is sent Embassador to Muscovy and Sweden whither also Sir Gilbert Talb●t was likewise employ'd as a particular Envoy as likewise Mr. Coventry to Denmark All upon such important Instructions as the emergency of Affairs at that time requir'd but in general to keep a strict union and Correspondence with those Nations Neighbours of his Enemies Sir George Downing was presently after his return into England sent back again with full Instructions what he had to do Many Conferences he had about the Lists of Damages but the Dutch would return no positive Answer to any thing nor come to any Agreement hoping to prove the event of certain great expectations which they had not the least of which was the return of a vast Treasure in several great Fleets of Merchant-men His Majesty well knowing how strong a Nerve of War Mony is resolv'd to way-lay those vast Masfes of Wealth as they pass'd his own Channel mov'd also by certain Intelligence which he had that the Dutch were resolv'd in contempt of his power to send their Guinee preparations by Sea and that Opdam should convey them through the Channel To which end and purpose that he might be before-hand with the preparations of the Dutch the King strives with all his Puissance to make ready his Navy Whose Royal endeavours and indefatigable pains in his own particular Person were answered by the Success For such was the alacrity of his Subjects that saw him continually travelling from place to place by the presence of his own Majesty to encourage forward the work and to see all things effectually and speedily done that the City freely at the first demand made by the Earl of Manchester Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold suppli'd him with another Loan of another hundred thousand Pounds which so highly promoted his Royal Designe that while the Dutch slattering themselves with vain suppositions of his want of Men and Mony and broken with the Calamity of the Pestilence were only forc'd to look on and with envy behold his vigorous preparations the King had furnish'd out such a magnificent Navy to the Sea as the Ocean had hardly seen in any former Ages On the other side the Dutch having consider'd the dangers of the Northern Passage seemingly lay aside all thoughts of going about by Scotland and resolve to force their passage through the Channel The Commissioners therefore of the several Admiralties having revictual'd Opdams Fleet from the middle of October to the middle of December gave him order to hasten out to Sea with the first wind and to Conduct the Guinee-Succors through the Channel having taken care for some other Ships from the Vlie and Texel to joyn with him and in the mean time they sent a Galliot before to their Director-General in Guinee to give him notice of their Proceedings Which resolution taken and carried on with so much vigour most men believ'd to have been extorted from them by the necessity of their present condition for they had scatter'd many Contempts upon the English Nation and yet falter'd in the point of execution Nor was the Issue of this Bravado it self other than what their ●ear presented for about the middle of October Prince Rupert arriv'd at the Spit-head with sixteen Sail of Men of War The first thing he discover'd was a small Man of War of 14 Guns which the Prince suspecting to be employ'd for Discovery and Advice sent his Smack out to Sea with Orders to forbid him to beat there any longer unless he were upon Trade upon which Message he vanish'd At the beginning of November the Duke of York Lord high Admiral of England departed towards his Charge at Portsmouth having receiv'd a most gracious farewel from his Majesty in a short while after he went aboard and joyn'd with the Prince and Earl of Sandwich so that it was no easie thing to unlock the Narrow Seas Opdam lay with his Fleet in the Goree and great debates there were whether he should out or no but the Wind continuing cross put an end to that Dispute And a fair excuse they had for not adventuring upon so great disadvantages as they were like to have found for as we said before the Duke was now joy●●d with the Prince and the Earl of Sandwich Thereupon about the beginning of December perceiving great likelihood of Frosts and high Winds they thought good to lay up till Spring which was accordingly put in Execution to the great dissatisfaction of the Merchants who now found themselves abandon'd and left to all the hazards of a Winter Voyage Opdam return'd to the Hague and the Seamen were paid off And last of all for the better Information of the King of France how Affairs stood Monsieur Benninghen was dispatch'd away Post for Paris To recompence the Stay of the Royal Navy to
attend the Motion of the Netherlanders the Dutch Bourdeaux-Fleet laden with Wine Brandy and other Commodities fell all or the greatest part into our hands which together with many other Prizes at other times this Year taken made up the number of above a Hundred thirty five with great Caution condemn●d in the Admiralty of London Nine Dutch Ships were brought into Dover at one time laden with Canary Salt Oyl Brandy Spice and other good Merchandizes Certain it was that the Hollander received a very great Foyl in the Opinion of the People by that Action of withdrawing his Fleet the Vulgar being supported till then with an expectation of some mighty Actions to Answer their Prodigious Boasting This was all the Action of the English and Dutch Fleets at home For his Highness the Duke of York finding that the Netherlanders had laid up their Ships and that there was now no need of keeping so great a Navy abroad with all his Train upon the seventh of December arrived at White-Hall leaving a considerable number of stout Vessels under the Conduct of the Earl of Sandwich having before his departure by a Speech which he made them inspired the Seamen with an admirable resolution and chearfulness to obey the Commands of their Admiral in whatever Enterprise he should have further Order to Prosecute This year were Launch'd the Royal Catherine and the Royal Oak And that noble Ship the London being by an Accident blown up the City made their humble Addresses to His Majesty that they might have leave to make a Contribution among themselves for the building another Ship of equal Goodness The King graciously accepted their kind offer and to shew his greater Acceptance enjoyned them to add the Title of Loyal to the Name of London As yet there was no publique Declaration of War on either side Only the King seemed to Treat with his Arms in his hands And therefore Sir George Downing still prest in the heat of all this Preparation and Action according to his Instructions for Satisfaction of Damages The King had also made an Embargo upon the Dutch here in England which was carried so privately that Sir George Downing had Intelligence of it a full Week before the States knew any thing thereof By which means he gave timely Notice to fifteen or sixteen Sail of the English to Ship away insomuch that there remain'd nothing for the other to Seize but two inconsiderable Vessels and a Colchester Oysterboat About the List of Damages there were several Conferences with Sr. George Downing which prov'd all to little or no Effect But that which pinch'd them most was the Regulation propounded by Sir George for the Government of Trade for the future being very sensible that the English did make themselves much more Popular among the Natives where they settled than the Netherlanders had the fortune to do At length in Justification of their Proceedings they put forth a Scandalous Libel intituled An Extract out of the Memorials of the States General of the Vnited Provinces upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing Envoyè c. wherein they cast many Invective Aspersions upon His Majesty and put Sir George to the necessity of a Printed Vindication The reason of this delay was to feel the pulses of their Neighbours and to try what Assistance they could get from them especially France whither they had posted away Monsieur Benninghen as was said before but his Negotiation did no way answer their expectations Besides that the Minister of the Crown of Sweden charg'd them in a large Memorial with a direct breach of Articles neither would Denmark Meddle with their Cause The Bishop of Munster threatned 'um for the Eyler Fort The Emperour sollicited 'um to do Reason to Malta And Spain Visibly rejoyc'd for their misfortune before Calice Which at the latter end of Sixty four after all their Embassies and Negotiations was their Condition with Forraign Princes They were angry with His Majesty of England for making a Peace with Argier without their Assent whenas they had given order to De Ruyter who Commanded the Squadron which was sent to the Assistance of the English to leave that Enterprize having designed him to destroy the English Factories in Guiny to which purpose De Ruyter set Sayl from Gibralter about the latter end of September with Thirteen Ships and Arriving in Guiny made seizure of all that he found within his reach at Cape Verd and the Island of G●gee where the Governour with his men finding himself deserted made Conditions to be Transported to Gambia But this was in part retaliated by the News which came from Captain Allen who with the Ships under his Command discovering about thirty Dutch-men which prov'd to be the Smyrna-Fleet with their Convey made up to them and upon their refusing to strike Sayl gave them a Salute which they answered After some Dispute the Dutch made for the Bay of Cadiz having lost four of their Richest Merchant-men and one taken and divers of the rest very much shatter'd one of the Captains of their Men of War was kill'd This Action was the more considerable in regard that the Sea was so high that Captain Allen could not bear out his lower Tire About the seventh of Iune Sir Thomas Modeford arriv'd at Iamaica with four hundred Passengers whither he was followed soon after with Three hundred more where they found themselves very well pleased with the Country and very much encourag'd to settle themselves the Governour endeavouring with all diligence to settle a fair Correspondence with his Neighbours both in Sancto Domingo and Cartagena to which purpose he call'd in all Private Men of War belonging to the Island On the 24th of November the Parliament met again at which time the King in a Speech signified to them how unkindly he had been treated by his Neighbours yet that he had upon the Stock of his own Credit set forth a Navy that would not decline meeting with all the Naval Power of the Enemy that he had borrowed very liberally out of his own Stores and of the City of London so that to discharge the one and replenish the other would require little less than Eight hundred thousand pounds That he expected from them all necessary Expedition in their Resolutions and that their Supply might be Real and Substantial This was Answered by Sir Edward Turnor then Speaker with all Expressions of Loyalty and Affection to the King setting forth the deep sence which the Parliament had of the Injuries of the Dutch of His Majesties Expences and the necessity of his Warlike Preparations Assuring Him of their Constancie and readiness to yield him all obedience both with their Bodies and Purses To make their words good they first past a Vote for a Supply of Four and twenty hundred seventy seven thousand and five hundred pounds a great heart-breaking at that time and that which shew'd the King would want no
hands while he had such large Sums to carry on the War In a short time the Pr●positions of the several Counties and the Names of the Commissioners were agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament Upon the Eleventh of February following the King Sign'd the Act being Entituled An Act for granting a Royal Ayd of Twenty four hundred threescore and seventeen thousand and five hundred pounds For which his Majesty return'd his Royal thanks In the beginning of March following his Majesty having passed several other Acts presented him by both Houses and receiv'd their good wishes for the prosperity of his undertakings delivered in a Speech by the Speaker Prorogued them till the Twenty first of Iune 1665. A little before the Parliament met His Majesty set forth a Declaration for Encouragement of Marriners and Seamen employ'd in the Service Allowing all Officers and Seamen after the rate of Ten shillings per Tun for every lawful Prize and to take to themselves as free Pillage whatever they should take on or above the Gun-Deck with his Royal Promise to provide for the Sick and Wounded Widows Children and Impotent Parents of such as should be Kill'd with several other advantages mention'd in the said Declaration His Majesties Wisdom and Goodness in that and in all other things plentifully providing for all Events both of War and Peace In December following His Majesty setting forth the Consideration which he had taken of the Injuries Affronts and Spoyls done by the Subjects of the Vnited Provinces to the Ships Goods and Persons of His Majesties Su●jects notwithstanding many and frequent demands for Redress by the Advice of His Privy Councel ordered That general Reprisals should be granted against the Ships and Goods and Subjects of the Vnited Provinces As this did not a little vex the Dutch so with greater reason the action of De Ruyter in Guiny did Incense the King of England and therefore in the beginning of February he put forth a Declaration That the Subjects of His Majesty had sustained several Injuries and Damages from the Subjects of the United Provinces That he had made Complaint thereof and frequently demanded Satisfaction That instead of Reparation they had not only ordered De Ruyter to desert the Consortship against the Pyrats of the Mediterranean Sea but also to do all acts of Violence and Hostility against His Majesties People in Africa And that therefore His Majesty did with the Advice of his Privy Councel Declare the Dutch the Aggressors Impowring His Majesties Fleet to Fight and Destroy the Ships of the Netherlanders This Declaration being a solemn Denuntiation of War was proclam'd in the beginning of March at White-hall Temple-bar and the Royal-Exchange with the usual Solemnities This Declaration charging them to be the Aggressors stuck heavily in their Stomachs and they took it into their serious consideration But instead of answering to so high a Charge they contented themselves with a second Libel which they had publish'd somewhile before which they call'd A Summary Observation and Deduction delivered by the Deputies of the States General upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing Envoy Extraordinary of the King of Great Britain As lewd a piece for foulness of Language and weakness of Defence as ever came into the light under pretence of Authority In the mean while their Embassies to Swedeland and Denmark went slowly on and instead of being befriended by France the Embassador of that Crown is order'd to demand reparations for the loss of two very considerable East-India Ships taken from the Subjects of that Kingdom And at the same time his Electoral Highness renewed his demands of satisfaction from the Governors of Wasel for the affront offer●d to the Son of his Excellencie the Earl of Carlisle of which it may not be unseasonable now to give the Relation The Lord Morpeth Son of the Earl of Carlisle travelling from Munster to Collen found a T●oop of Horse drawn up in his way the Captain whereof coming to the young Lord told him he had Orders to carry that Company to Wesel by a Verbal Order from the Governour which he did and lodg'd the Company in two Inns. After they had been two days Prisoners one Hayes a Gentleman belonging to the Duke of Brandenburghs Council in Cleve demanded the Prisoners in the Dukes name threatning to seize the Goods of the States Subjects in the Dukes Dominions in case of refusal The Governor answer'd that he was inform'd they were gathering a Party to fall upon his Garrison but finding the Information false he gave them all free liberty to proceed in their Journey But the Lord Morpeth and the English not so contented went to Cleve and there in the Dukes Court exhibited a Charge against the Governor Not long after Major Holmes was committed to the Tower upon several Accusations laid against him But when the whole matter came to be strictly enquired into and examined he did so fully clear himself upon every point that the King was not only pleas'd to discharge but to honour him with a singular mark of his favour Toward the middle of March several Memorials were delivered in by the Ministers of France Portugal and Swede complaining of their Ships being detained contrary to the Usage and Practice of their Friends and Allies To which the States gave little or no satisfaction only permitted some French Ballast-ships to go out About the latter end of March Captain Allen arriv'd in the Downs with a considerable Squadron of his Majesties Fleet and a Convoy of rich Merchants together with a rich Prize one of them that were taken at Cadiz a lusty Ship which was afterwards made a man of War and carried above 40 Guns About this time his Majesty publish'd a Proclamation prohibiting the Importation or Retailing of any Commodities of the Growth or Manufacture of the States of the United Provinces occasion'd by a Prohibition on their parts of the Importing or Vending any Goods or Wares made in any of the Kings Dominions But while we prepare for War at home we make Peace abroad For the English in Tangier had by this made an advantageous Accord with Gayland the M●ors being very ready to agree with them in all Amity and good Correspondence Nor was it less pleasing to hear of Sir Charles Cotterels reception at Bruxels who being sent on his Majesties behalf to preserve and continue the Ancient Amity had an entertainment sutable to his Quality If there were any thoughts of Peace among the Hollanders it was only in shew for their preparations for War were open and publick and therefore the King with most indefatigable diligence journey'd from Port to Port to hasten out his Fleet already in great readiness as also by his presence to incourage the Seamen that by the 25 th of March ending the Year 1664 the Fleet most magnificently prepar'd with all Provisions necessary was ready to receive their most
Embassador who began to deal roundly with 'um and to insist upon the very Letter of a late Treaty for the restitution of two French East-India Ships which had been so long and often demanded The Dutch offer'd certain small Vessels which they pretended would do the French business as well Hereupon a general Embargo was order'd by the King of France upon all their Merchants Vessels till the Dutch made satisfaction for the two Ships for though the Netherlanders had the confidence to with-hold 'um yet the King of France had effectually paid for 'um so that at length they were forc'd not only to part with the Ships but the Lading to boo● In the mean while they enlarg'd their Embargo upon the English and not only made a Prohibition of Trade with England but also provided that none of the Subjects of that State should ensure any Goods belonging to the Subjects of the King of England And all Newters were forbid to carry Counterband-goods to the Dominions of his Majesty The Reason why the States were so backward with the Fleet was most certainly the aversness of the people whom it cost the States not a little cunning to make tractable to their purposes To which intent they insinuated into the ears and minds of the people That the King of England was not in a condition to set out a Fleet which they not only found to be otherwise but also purely done upon the stock of his own proper Authority and Credit When they saw that brought to pass the next thing they flatter'd the people withal was that though the King had strain'd himself to bring a Fleet to Sea yet that the Parliament would never supply him with a sum of Mony answerable to the Charge of so expensive a War Finding themselves deluded therein also by their Act for the Royal Aid the next suggestion was that the people would never submit to pay it But the voluntary Present made to his Majesty by the City of London soon clear'd that mistake To these they added that they should find friends in England together with great Aid and Support from Forein Princes wherein they found themselves at length totally disappointed Among the rest of their disappointments the King of Denmark's calling in all his Seamen out of Forein Service was not the least for thereby they were disfurnished of many able Sea-men which otherwise they might have had for their Mony This Month also arriv'd at London the Duke of Verneuil and Monsieur Courtin from the King of France and from the King of Spain the Conde de Molina The two former had their Audience within three days after their Entry which was very magnificent They were sent upon Mediation and Composure the event whereof the Dutch did much depend upon and extremely hearken after Nor were the Dutch a little active in hopes to deceive Forein Princes in Printing and publishing Libels to the scandal and defamation of the English Nation Among others the most remarkable of their Papers were the Remarks of the Deputies of the States General upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing Envoy Extraordinary c. A Discourse full of irreverence and falsehood of which the world was sufficiently convinc'd when they read the Reply of Sir George Downing thereto In the next place they Printed a pretended Letter from one Valkenburgh Director-General of Guinee to the States feigning how that at Adia the English after they had given quarter with rusty Knives cut off the Noses of those whom they had taken alive and exercised many other strange Amboyna-cruelties upon the Hollanders in these parts Therefore that so great a scandal might appear the more notorious there was publish'd an Account of the Guinee-Transactions In brief That Captain Robert Holmes who was Commanded for the Coast of Guinee in October 1663 coming thither all people complain'd how ●ll the Dutch had treated the English how they had engag'd the King of Barra to assault the English Factories which Designe failing how they had endeavour'd to corrupt the Officers of the Charles and Iames Islands to deliver up their Forts How they had counterfeited the King of England's Signe-Manual and Signet to countenance their Entry into the River had they not been frustrated by the notice which the King of Barra gave of the whole Designe After this Captain Holmes for the better security of some English Ships daily expected sailed to Cabo Verde fearing one Iohnson that was said to lie in the way where without any provocation they ●ired from the Fort killing his Master and wounding divers of the Company notwithstanding all which the Governour surrendring the place next morning he and all his Company were treated with all possible respect and civility by the Captain At Sestos they had been dealing with the King of that place to throw out the English inveigling the people abroad and then abusing them under English Colours the better to attain their ends The like was done upon the Coast of Castle de Mina where Valckenburgh offer'd a Bendy of Gold for every English head At another time they shot at a Convoy of Capt. Holmes from a Fort of theirs which so enrag'd the Moors that they fell upon the Fort and took it and would have put all the Hollanders to the Sword had not the Captain prevented them Lastly Captain Holmes having sent a Drum to Ariamaboa with Honorable Proposals contrary to the Rule of War they mangled stript and left him dead upon the place Which Account being so far from the Accusations of Valckenburgh gave no small satisfaction to the world so that they lost their aim among all just and sober Persons But now the Netherlanders finding how little they could boast of their Alliances near home they made great Brags of the kindness shewn their Embassador at a distance by the Emperor of Russia though by his reception no such thing appear'd for as for his Present which was of silver Plate it was so miserably thin that it would scarce endure the carrying His allowance was very ordinary and the person appointed to attend him as Master of the Ceremonies was only a Merchant and Alderman of the City who having at a drinking Bout began the Prince of Orange's health before that of the States General rais'd a very great Dispute so that upon the whole his Entertainment seem'd rather a matter of State and Custom than of kindness In England was observ'd a general Fast with a reverence befitting the Solemnity of the occasion both Queens did most affectionately concern themselves therein by express and particular Appointment commanding all their Servants to set themselves apart with more than ordinary Devotion for the Service of the Day This was answer'd with the happy Omens of future Victory from the fair success of small Enterprises For not long after were taken three men of War The first a Caper of seven Guns and 47 men The other were Direction-Ships
those parts But though De Ruyter carry'd the Flag he did not Command in Chief but under the Triumvirate of De Witt Huygens and Boreel who according to a new Model had now the Superintendencie over the Naval Affairs And now the Bishop of Munster's Drums sound in their Ears almost as terrible as the English Cannon besides that his Army began to grow very numerous This made the States order a Flying-Army to the Frontiers though with small satisfaction to the Inhabitants who daily fled to the Fortifi'd Towns for their Security In the mean while the English Fleet lay in Three Squadrons from Brookness to Hitland and so to Norway which made the Dutch very earnest to put to Sea but one while the Water another time the Wind would not permit it The Earl of Sandwich being thus abroad upon Notice of 50 Hollanders being sheltred in Berghen sent a Squadron of 22 Men of War under the Command of Sir Thomas Tyddeman with Orders to Sail directly for Berghen and there to Attacque and Fire the Hollanders which Enterprize had prov'd very fatal to the Dutch had not the Wind and the Dane himself very much befriended the Dutch and given them liberty to Plant their Guns ashore against the English However they receiv'd very great Loss in the disabling many of the most considerable Ships then in the Harbour But soon after the Earl of Sandwich himself met with a Convoy of the Dutch with several Merchants and some East-India Men in his Company where though the storminess of the Weather did much favour the Dutch yet he took above 8 good Men of War two of their best East-India Ships and 20 Sail of their Merchant-Men Some few daies after some of his Majesties Fleet encountring with 18 sail of Hollanders took the greatest part of them whereof four Dutch Men of War with above a thousand Prisoners Upon the 10 th of October the Parliament met at Christ-Church in Oxford the Schools being fitted for their reception where his Majesty delivered himself to this effect That they might confidently believe that had it not been absolutely necessary to consult with them he would not have called them together when the Contagion had spread it self over so many parts of the Kingdom That he had entred upon the Dutch War by their advice and encouragement and that therefore he desir'd they might receive information of the Conduct and Effects of it to the end be might have the continuance of their chearful supply That it prov'd more chargeable than he could imagine it would have been That the addition which the Dutch made to their Fleets made it unavoidably necessary for him to make a proportional preparation That as the Dutch endeavour'd by false suggestions to make themselves friends so he had not been wanting to encourage those Princes that had been wrong'd by the Dutch to recover their own by force to which end he had assisted the Bishop of Munster with a considerable sum of Money That these were the Reasons that his Supply was upon the matter neer spent However That he made not War for Wars sake but was ready to receive all fair Propositions but that the Dutch were no less Insolent than ever though they had no advantage that he knew of Upon this the Lord-Chancellor Hide enlarged observing from point to point the whole process of Affairs from the time of his Majesties Restauration to this instant That notwithstanding the affronts upon the Royal Family in Holland during the Usurpation His Majesty was pleased to Embark himself in one of their Ports though prest by the two Neighbour-Kings to have taken his passage through their Territories That being returned the King was forc'd to support himself upon Credit till the Armies were disbanded and the Fleet paid off which Debt was heightned by the supplies of his Majesties Stores so exhausted at that time that there was not Arms for 5000 men not Provisions for the setting out ten new ships That his Majesty replenish'd his Stores reduc'd the expence of his Navy providing only a necessary Guard for the Narrow S●as and a Fleet against the Pyrates which had brought them to submission Then he repeated the several Insolencies and unkindenesses committed by the Dutch The King's application to the Parliament The Parliaments humble desires of Redress The States preparations for War And the whole Series of the War and its Success until that time Then reflecting upon the greatness and necessity of the King's disbursments he concluded In answer whereof the House of Commons returned their Thanks to his Majesty for his care and Conduct for the preservation of his People and Honour of the Nation declaring withal that they would assist him with their Lives and Fortunes They returned him also Thanks for his care of his Brother the Duke of York Then they gave the King an additional Supply of 1250000 l. by Monethly Assesment They gave him also a Present of a Moneths Tax to come in the Rear after the expiration of the Monethly Aid which they desired his Majesty would bestow upon his Royal Highness They also passed a Bill of Attainder of certain English Fugitives who had joyned with the Dutch Also a Bill for suppression of Nonconformists which with some other Bills being signed by his Majesty they were Prorogu'd till the 20 th of February following at Westminster On the last of their Sessions the House of Commons considering that they sate in the Convocation-House and remembring the Fidelity and Loyalty of the University Voted that the Thanks of the House should be given to the Chancellor Masters and Scholars for their eminent Loyalty to his Majesty and his Father of blessed Memory during the Rebellion particularly for refusing to be visited by the Usurped powers and to subscribe the Solemn League and Covenant and for these Excellent Reasons they publish'd to the World to justifie his Majesties Cause Mr. L. Hide Sir Heneage Finch Sir Iohn Birkenhead and Colonel Strangways were ordered to present these their Thanks to the University which was accordingly done in a full Convocation within the same Walls where the Vote past After this Sir Heneage Finch and Colonel Strangways were made Doctors of Laws by Dr. Ienkins Principal of Iesus Colledge Mr. Hide and Sir Iohn Berkenhead having received their respective Degrees before Soon after the Duke of Ormond Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland was remanded back into that Kingdom where in a short time he arrived at Dublin and was received into the City with great splendor and Magnificence This Moneth the several Courts of Justice sate in the Schools at Oxford being Michaelmas-Term where Sir Iohn Keeling was made Lord Chief-Jus●ice of the King's-Bench and Sir William Morton one of the Judges of the same Court in the place of Sir Wadham Windham deceased The next Term being Hillary was from thence adjourn'd to Windsor and from thence to Westminster where they sate February the ninth But
among actions of lesser note at Sea the courage of Captain Howard deserves remembrance who now commanding one of the King's ships render'd himself as signally faithful to his Sovereign as to his Owners who having certain Victuallers and other Merchant-men under his Convoy as he passed by the Bay of Cadiz five Dutch Men of War then under sail before the Bay having notice thereof being Vessels of 43 40 and 36 Guns apiece had immediately fetch'd up the Merchant-men but the Captain so behav'd himself with his Merlin a Frigat of 12 Guns only that the whole English Fleet had time to escape into the Bay of Tangier and by and by perceiving the headmost of the Dutch ships of 45 Guns who had done him most mischief to be making after the Fleet to their inevitable Ruine he frankly ran himself aboard the Dutch-man where he fought above an hour board and board till being himself dangerously wounded and all his Men dead or desperately wounded save eight he was at length compell'd to yield and carried into Cadiz But to return neerer home to the Grand Affairs betwixt England and Holland we finde the Netherlanders in no small perplexity They had now recalled their Embassador Van Gotch out of England who took his leave of the King at Oxford by him the King sends a Letter to the States wherein though he could not but charge them as the Authors of the War yet he signified to them his readiness to come to any fair terms of Accommodation nor could this Letter be so stifled by the contrary Faction but that the People got a view of it by which when they saw the disposition of the King of England they were not a little enrag'd at the Province of Holland who had so much endeavour'd to keep them in ignorance and made them more pliant to yield to those Alterations that not long after followed Munster so bestirs himself all the Winter that he allows no time for rest but upon Thaws and milde Weather so that he defeated several considerable parties of the Dutch and advanced not a little way into their Country of Friezland burning and spoiling some and taking other of their Towns whilst Prince Maurice with 18000 men is forc'd to look on without being able to attempt any thing of moment Their chief Assistants were the King of France and Dukes of Lunenburg As for the first he sent them a Supply of men but they brought along with them so much Rudeness and such Diseases into the Country that the Dutch were soon weary of their company for they were forc'd to quarter ' am in the Brandenburgher's Country which did them no good The th●eats of Waldeck and the conjunction of the Confederate-Forces did them as little kindness only it caus'd the Bishop to retire with his main Body out of Friezland leaving a sufficient strength in Garrisons for he had destroyed already 900 Horse in one place 200 Foot in another he had defeated two Troops of their Horse and 500 Foot in another place and 400 Foot that had repossessed themselves of Vriesveen forcing them to render themselves and had now Garrisoned his Foot in his new Conquests and withdrawn his Horse into his own Country The Dukes of Lunenburg grew cold in their assistance and sent to excuse themselves to the King of England for what they had done as being ignorant of the Grounds and Causes of the Bishop's taking Arms. The Brandenburgher offer'd a Mediation with the Bishop but with much delay Their main hopes was in the King of France who believing the Ballance of Affairs not even enough yet and 't is thought rather acting as he did out of an affectation of Sovereignty in the Mediterranean-Sea not only continues their friend but declares War against England acquainting the Queen-Mother of England that though he could no longer keep off a Declaration of War against his Majesty of Great Britain yet that he should always preserve the same esteem and value for his Majesty's Person hoping his Majesty would continue the same kindness and affection for him Accordingly upon the 27 th of Ianuary the French King's Declaration of War was publickly proclaim'd upon pretence of Succouring the States General in consequence of the Treaty 1662. But the Lord Hollis the King of England's Embassador in France having remonstrated the great injustice of that Declaration which subjected all English-men in their Estates and Persons to the last acts of Hostility contrary to the Treaties between the two Crowns allowing each party three Moneths time for the withdrawing their Estates and Persons after a Rupture The King of France thereupon issu'd out a second Proclamation giving the English the said Liberty of three Moneths to Transport themselves and Goods However in return of the first Declaration the King of England soon after that is to say in February publish'd also his Declaration of War against the French Importing that whereas the French King pretending an Alliance Defensive with the States General had proclaim'd a War against his Subjects That he was resolv'd to prosecute the War which the French King had so unjustly undertaken against him with his utmost Force by Sea and Land It was then admirable to see with what a harmony and chearfulness the Maritime Counties offer'd their service to his Majesty upon their receiving his first Orders to put themselves into a posture of defence But he being tender of continuing them under the trouble of a needless Duty was pleased to direct their dismission and return home till further occasion In the mean time Sr. Christopher Mimms was Crusing about with a Squadron of stout Ships who hearing of a Squadron of the Dutch that were out at Sea near Ostend he made away for Discovery and at length had a view of them out of fight of Land about Newport being in all 16 Sail and 3 Flags Fain he would have been dealing with them but they not daring to abide the shock made all the Sail they could away and easily escap'd him being neer their own Burrows The Pestilence was now so well abated that the King return'd again to White-Hall where the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London attended Him and humbly welcom'd Him home to his Chief City after so long and melancholy an absence The Term also which to prevent the too early resort of People to London and Westminster had been Adjourn'd to Windsor was now again Adjourn'd from thence to Westminster But the Parliament who should have met the 20th of this month were again Prorogu'd till the 23 of April by a special Commission directed to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and others of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal About this time Sir Thomas Clifford the Kings Extraordinary Envoy to Sweden and Denmark return'd into England And the Earl of Sandwich was sent Ambassadour extraordinary into Spain where what good Services he did the following years will declare And to shew
going and returning Sir Iohn dismiss'd them with promise of a speedy answer and upon consultation with the Earl of Bath it was agreed that Sir Ionathan Trelawney Major Sparks and Mr. Windham should go aboard At their approach De Ruyter met them at the Boat-side and inviting them aboard saluted them with 13 Guns excusing what had past and promising for the future that no other acts of that nature should be committed while he continu'd on the Coast. De Wit Doleman the Count de Horne with above 20 Captains more attended the English at the Great Cabin where they offer'd a Present to De Ruyter for his own Table but refus'd any greater supply till Peace should be Proclaim'd Accordingly upon their return the Earl of Bath sent the Admiral a Present of fresh Provisions with a fat Buck and some Fruit which De Ruyter receiv'd with seven Guns as an acknowledgement Notwithstanding De Ruyter's Complement after he parted from Plymouth two of the Dutch Fleet came before the Harbour of Hoy and advancing near the Shoar ply'd with their Broad-sides certain Works that were newly rais'd at the entrie of the Harbour but after an hour and an half they were forc'd to retire with several Shots receiv'd in their Hulls and the loss of one of their Top-Masts and several men without any loss to the English After this they were only seen to hover about the Coasts but without any farther Attempts and Peace ensu'd For about the beginning of Iune the Embassadours of England France and Sweden the Plenipotentiaries of the States and Denmark repair'd to the Castle belonging to the Prince of Orange where there was great care taken to avoid all contests about Precedency A while after Mr. Coventry one of the Embassadors being sent over into England and having receiv'd the King's Answer and Resolution touching the Articles discuss'd and agree'd to by the Plenipotentiaries return'd for Breda so that upon the Twenty first of Iune the Articles were sign'd by the Plenipotentiaries And upon the Fourteenth of August the Ratifications of the Peace were enterchang'd The Mediators first bringing in the Ratifications and other Instruments of the Dutch French and Danes into the English Embassadors Apartment receiv'd from them theirs in Exchange Which done the English Embassadors went into the Apartment of the Dutch and their Allies where they made and receiv'd the Compliments usual upon the Conclusion of so great an Affair The Peace was immediately Proclaim'd before the Doors of the several Plenipotentiaries in their respective Languages Afterwards upon the Twenty fourth of August it was publickly Proclaim'd in the City of London And as if this had not been enough it was afterwards confirm'd by an Additional Treaty made and concluded by Sir William Temple in Ianuary following Having thus pursu'd the Series of the Dutch War and Peace other intervening actions must not be omitted It was murmur'd that the Publick Treasure was wasted and miss-spent the King therefore to satisfie the People Issued out a Commission to several Members of both Houses to take an Accompt of such sums of Money as had been rais'd and assign'd to him during the present War being in all 2477500 l. granted at several times by several Acts with full Power to call to Accompt all Treasurers Pay-masters Receivers and all other Agents and Persons whatsoever And what had not been lately practis'd before by the King this Year the Feast of St. George was kept in his Palace of White-Hall The Earl of Southampton Lord High Treasurer of England being now lately Dead the King did not think fit to give the Place to any particular Person for the present but made the Duke of Albemarle the Lord Ashley Sir Thomas Clifford Sir William Coventry and Sir Iohn Duncomb by a Commission under the Great Seal his Commissioners for executing that Office The Parliament had met according to the Kings Proclamation in Iuly but were then Prorogu'd again till the Tenth of October at which time being again Assembled the King gave for one reason of his last Prorogation That it was to give himself time to do some things in the mean time which he hop'd would not be unwelcome to them which he had since done leaving his other Reasons to be deliver'd by the Lord Keeper who not only afterwards enlarg'd upon the King's Reasons for the said Prorogation but also recommended to them the Obstructions of Trade and the settlement of such a Ballance of Trade between England and Scotland that neither we should be prejudic'd by the Import of their Commodities here nor they put to seek new places of Vent abroad As to the Money rais'd for the War he told them what the King had done in reference to calling all Persons to Account and had committed the Examination thereof to themselves to follow their own Method adding withal that if any grievances had happen'd his Majesty would be as willing to have them Redress'd as they to have them Represented not doubting but that they would endeavour to Imprint the known Truth into his Subject hearts that there was no distinct Interest between the King and his People The Commons taking into Consideration the King's Speech resolv'd to return him their humble Thanks to which purpose having obtain'd the Concurrence of the Lords the Two Houses in a Body attended the King in the Banqueting-House where the Lord Keeper in the Name of the Two Houses made known to the King That they His Majesties Loyal and Faithful Subjects having taken into their serious Consideration the Speech wherein he was pleas'd to let them know the reasons of their last Prorogation which was to give himself time to do some things which would not be unwelcome to them but be a Foundation of a greater Confidence for the Future between the King and them They found themselves in duty bound to give him thanks and particularly for that he had Disbanded the New-rais'd Forces that he had dismist the Papists from his Guards and other Military Imployments for his Care in quickning the Execution of the Act restraining the Importation of Canary That He had seen the Canary Patent Vacated And Lastly for his displacing the Lord Chancellor But the Parliament having Sate till the Middle of December pass'd several Acts among the rest An Act for taking an account of the several Sums of Money therein mention'd An Act for Banishing and Disenabling the Earl of Clarenden to which when the King had given his Consent by Commission they Adjourn'd till February And because it was a general Complaint among the Seamen and Souldiers who had been in Service that they were frequently constrain'd to give money or lose some part of their Wages to recover the rest the King therefore for the more effectual Redress of such abuses if any were appointed the Duke of York and several of the Lords of the Council to receive and hear all such Complaints as any Sea-man or Souldier should
sunk immediately In this action Sir Robert Holmes was Admiral the Earl of Ossery Vice-Admiral and Sir Freschevil Hollis Rear-Admiral The first blow thus given the King publishes his Declaration of War against the States General of the Vnited Provinces to this effect That the dissatisfaction his Majesty had in the carriage of the States General of the United Provinces towards him for some years past being come to that pass that be could no longer without the diminution of his own Glory dissemble the indignation rais'd in him by a Treatment so unsuitable to the great Obligations which he and his Predecessors had so liberally heap'd upon them he was resolv'd to declare a War against them forbidding all his Subjects to hold correspondence with them upon pain of death This Declaration was with the solemnities openly Proclaimed at the usual places both in London and Westminster of which more in the succeeding years And now to share in the Triumphs of this War Sir Edward Sprague returns happy in the favours which his Prince did afterwards bestow upon him for his services in the Mediterranean Sea It stock mightily in the Stomack of the Dutch that the King of France should lay such Impositions upon their own Domestick Manufactures and the King of France was glad it did and therefore though they sent him word That unless he took off those Impositions he should not take it ill if they laid an Impost of 50 per Cent. upon Salt and all other Merchandises of France And though they were at the charge of an Embassador to press for an Answer to this Affair yet they found the King took no care to give 'um any satisfaction at all in that particular They therefore thus exasperated lay the Imposition The King so exasperated lays hold of the occasion Taxes all Spices and Herring imported by the Dutch and forbids his Subjects to lade any Brandy or other Commodities aboard any Holland-Vessels Besides this they saw the King of France's Forces drawing into a Body in Flanders and that with such an unusual preparation as the buying up of all the Flambeaux or Torches that could be got in the Country as if the French intended to labour day and night whereby all the adjacent parts began to be very inquisitive into their own strength Cologne at odds with her Elector comes with much ado to reasonable Terms and in the mean time falls to Fortifying with all her might and the Emperour took that City so far into his protection that he sent the Marquiss of Grana to keep it in his Name to the great encouragement of the Inhabitants Munster was so kinde as to offer this City his Forces for their assistance provided they would admit of no other Garrison but they thought it not convenient to accept of his offer The Dutch repair the Works of Maestricht re-inforcing the Garrison with Men and Provision fearing the violence of the Storm there The Duke of Newburgh fortifies Dusseldorp upon the Rhine careful of the Imperal Territories Monterey in Flanders makes it his utmost endeavour to raise Men and Money for the defence of the remaining part of the Spanish Jurisdictions In this interim of time the two Dukes of Brunswick resolving to bring that City to that obedience which they affirm'd to be due and challeng'd from it lay Siege to the Town with considerable Forces the Townsmen within made a notable resistance for the time but when the Duke's Army began to approach neer the Walls and were ready to fling their Granadoes and other Combustible stuff in their very Houses they were forc'd to surrender on Conditions that the Magistrates and Inhabitants should do Homage to the Duke of Wolfenbuttel as the rest of his Subjects receive and pay his Garrison and pay moreover a considerable sum of Money for their disobedience Those Flames that could not have their will upon Brunswick are now raging upon the beautiful Escurial the most magnificent piece of work in all Spain if not in Europe It was several days consuming and among other things was destroy'd the famous Library there a loss the most considerable as being most difficult if not altogether impossible to be repair'd But to return to other Combustions in the midst whereof we finde the Dutch labouring all they could to get the Dane and Swede on their side But the King of France had put the Dane and they far enough asunder for the King of Denmark having referr'd the matter in difference concerning the remaining Subsidies due from the States to that Crown to the King of France He makes an Award for the payment of five Millions of Crowns Principal and one Million Interest so that it was in vain for Amerongen to Sollicite there till the States had submitted to that advantageous determination Besides that the continual Negotiations of the King of England's Embassadors and extraordinary Envoys had no small influence upon those Crowns so that the Negotiation of Van Haren gave little satisfaction to his Masters Their Consultations are therefore all employed for provision of Men and Arms and lest they should want a Head the Prince of Orange is now by the general Consent of the States in a full Assembly made their Captain-General and Admiral for that Campagne engaging to renew it again after Expiration during Life Commissioners were also appointed to Assist him De Wit Van Putten and others The Emperor seeing things at this height offer'd his own Mediation between the King of France and the States bu● now prov'd too late And as for the Queen-Regent of Spain the King of France had sent to know Her positive Answer how she would behave her self in this juncture of Affairs but she being a Lady took time to give in her Answer Nor was it without some kinde of slight that the Dutch Embassador was dismist from Paris when desiring leave for his last Audience and a Pass for the safe Transporting his Goods by Sea Reply was made That for his Audience he might have it so soon as he pleas'd but for his Goods they were to be view'd by the Officers of the Customs before they could stir Anno Dom. 1672. THE War with the Year being thus openly begun the King of England in the first place takes care for the security of his own Subjects Trading by Sea by allowing them sufficient Convoys and giving them liberty to Sayl their Vessels with the assistance of what Forrein Marriners they could procure taking particular Order also against the sculking and absconding of such Officers and Sea-men who were his own Natural Subjects And knowing that Actions of Importance depend in their success upon good Advice he call'd to his Privy Council four persons of great Honour and Integrity Henry Marquess of Worcester President of the Council of Wales Arthur Earl of Essex Thomas Viscount Falconbridge and George Viscount Hallifax and soon after Sir Thomas Osburn Baroner
with him hasts to the St. George and puts up the Flag which when the Earl of Ossory saw who had in the mean time brought new Foresails to his Yards he sent Norborough to tell him that if he would he would set upon Tromp and board him if he had assistance Sprague praises his resolution bids him go on and he would immediately be with him But his suddain death was the loss of a Noble Designe For he had not been long aboard the St. George when through the loss of her Main-mast he was forc'd to forsake her too and as he was going aboard the Royal Charles the Boat being shatter'd to pieces by an accidental shot he was himself drown'd in the Ocean over which he had so often Triumph'd After Sprague's ship had lost her Masts Tromp confident of carrying her bore up briskly and gave her a Broad-side and brought up two Fire-ships but all in vain for as he pass'd by he was so severely gall'd by the Earl of Ossory that he had hardly time to discharge six of his own Guns Neither did the Earl of Ossory leave the Flag-ship till he saw her tow'd off by the Hampshire Tromp sufficiently wearied having got his Squadron together at first retir'd but when he saw De Ruyter coming toward him he stay'd By and by the Prince was to be discern'd a far off with his Squadron who had born the brunt of the Zealand-Squadron and De Ruyter all the day for the French having gain'd the Wind in the beginning of the Fight never came in but at two of the clock the Prince and De Ruyter as it were by consent seem'd to leave off for both being sollicitous for the rest of their Fleets whom they saw afar off sail'd peaceably and directed their course toward their Friends though all the while within Cannon-shot But now De Ruyter being joyn'd with his own falls upon the Blue endeavouring to separate that Squadron from the Prince but in vain the Prince making all haste to come in and the other seasonably joyning with him Then began a most sharp dispute on both sides at what time the Prince sending two Fire-ships guarded by Captain Leg upon the Enemy put them into such a confusion that had the French then come in being as they were Masters of the Wind the Dispute with the Dutch concerning the Dominion of the Sea had certainly been at an end The Dutch lost two Flag-Officers several Captains and about 1000 Common Seamen Among the English Sprague was much lamented Captain Neve was slain Reeves and Heywood died of their Wounds Of the French but one Commander slain The loss of Common English Seamen was not so great being chiefly in the Earl of Ossory's and Sir Edward Sprague's ships About the middle of Iune the Lord Clifford of Chudleigh resign'd his Staff as Lord-Treasurer into the King's hands and Sir Thomas Osborn created Viscount Osborn of Dumblaine in Scotland and afterwards Earl of Danby in England was made Lord-Treasurer in his room Upon the 10 th of October the Parliament meeting according to their last Adjournment were Prorogu'd by Commission till the 27 th of the same Moneth then meeting again they were prorogu'd till the seventh of Ianuary following After which the King having taken the Great Seal from the Earl of Shaftsbury gave it to his Attorney-General Sir Heneage Finch afterwards created Lord Daventry in the County of Northampton Soon after His Majesty was pleas'd to call before him in Council the two Lord Chief-Justices and the Lord Chief-Baron commanding them to consider of the most effectual means for putting the Laws in Execution for preventing the growth of Popery and at the same time ordered that no Roman-Catholick or so reputed should presume after the 18 th of November to come into his presence to his Palace or where his Court should be and the Lord-Steward and Lord-Chamberlain of the Houshold were ordered to see the same effectually put in execution And by further Order a little after forbid them to come neer St. Iames's House or into the Park Immediately after in pursuance of his Gracious Assurance to both Houses of Parliament His Majesty issued out his Royal Proclamation to the same effect further requiring the Judges and all Justices of the Peace to take effectual care for the prosecution of all Papists and Popish Recusants according to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm About the latter end of November the Dutchess of Modena arriving at Dover in order to her Intermarriage with his Royal Highness the Duke of York was there met by the Duke and some few days after coming from Gravesend to London by Water was by his Majesty and divers of the Nobility met in Barges upon the River and so conducted to White-hall where after her Royal Highness had been received in the most obliging and kinde manner by her Majesty she was conducted to St. Iames's Within few days after their Royal Highnesses gave Audience to the French Portugal Swedish and Danish Embassadors as likewise to the Residents of Venice and Newburgh who all went to Complement them upon their late Marriage About this time his Majesty the great numbers of extraordinary Servants that had been sworn and admitted into his Service who making use of the Protections they receiv'd thereby did obstruct the due course of Law issued forth an Order in Council whereby all persons that did not by vertue of their Places receive Fee Wages Salary Diet or Board-wages should be absolutely disabled from making use of any Protection whatsoever for the future to save them from the prosecution of their Creditors From Tangier came Intelligence that the Earl of Middleton Governour understanding the defeat and death of Gayland and the great success of Muly Ishmael in those parts and having receiv'd a kinde Letter from the said Muly Ishmael purporting his great desire to be in Amity with the Governour and a proposition of sending Commissioners to treat with him accordingly appointed Major White Alderman Read and Mr. Wollaston for that purpose with full power and Instructions to conclude a Peace and Treaty of Commerce and particularly for the Redemption of the Captives in Sally wherein the Earl doubted not the same success as he had had with Gayland above a year before with whom he had made so firm a Peace that the Moors and Inhabitants of Tangier convers'd together as if they had been one Nation Notwithstanding the vigour and fury of the War yet neither in the height of this years Preparation nor Action were the thoughts of Peace laid aside but rather all endeavours tending thereto vigorously pursued To this purpose a Treaty was concluded on between the King of England and the Dutch whereat the Allies of both Parties were to be present The place accepted of by the King of England was Cologne whither by the middle of Summer and some before came all the Plenipotentiaries of the several Confederates For the King of Great Britain Sir Ioseph Williamson and Sir
the late Earl of Westmorland Sir William Portman Baronet Sir William Ducy Baronet Sir Thomas Trevor Knight and Baronet Sir Iohn Scudamore Baronet Sir William Gardner Baronet Sir Charles Cornwallis son to Fred●rick Lord Cornwallis Sir Iohn Nicholas eldest son to his Majesties principal Secretary Sir Iohn Monson Sir Iohn Bramston Sir Richard Temple Sir Bourchier Wray Sir Iohn Coventry Sir Edward Hungerford Sir Iohn Knevet Sir Philip Botler Sir Adrian Scroop son of Sir Iervas Scroop who received Nineteen Wounds at Edgehill in his Majesties service Sir Richard Knightley Sir Henry Heron Sir Iohn Lewk●or Sir George Brown Sir William Tyringham Sir Francis Godolphin Sir Edward Baynton Sir Grevil Verney Sir Edward Harlow Sir Edward Walpool Sir Francis Popham Sir Edward Wise Sir Christopher Calthorp Sir Richard Edgecomb Sir William Bromley Sir Thomas Bridges Sir Thomas Fanshaw Sir Iohn Denham Sir Nicholas Bacon Sir Iames Altham Sir Thomas Wendy Sir Iohn Manson Sir George Freeman Sir Nicholas Slanning Sir Richard Ingoldsby Sir Iohn Rolle Sir Edward Heath son of Sir Robert Heath late Lord chief Justice of England Sir William Morley Sir Iohn Bennet Sir Hugh Smith Sir Simon Leech Sir Henry Chester Sir Robert Atkins Sir Robert Gayer Sir Richard Powle Sir Hugh Ducy Sir Stephen Hales Sir Ralph Bush Sir Thomas Whitmore In Number sixty eight After their calling over they proceeded in their usual Habits each of them between his two Esquires and a Page following the Heraulds going before them with their Coats not put on but only hanging loose on their Arms to King Hen. 7. Chappel where after the wonted reverence performed they took their seats Prayer being done they returned to the Painted Chamber and the other Rooms adjoyning to repose themselves till the Supper of Two hundred dishes at his Majesties Charge was brought to the Court of Requests where they placed themselves according to their Seniority at the Tables by the Wall-side their Esquires and Pages waiting on them on the other Supper ended the Lord Cornwallis and Sir Charles Berckley the Treasurer and Comptroller of his Majesties Houshold gave them his welcome and then conducted them to the Painted Chamber and the Lords House adjoyning and some other near rooms where their Bathing Vessels and Beds which were Pallets with Canopies were prepared being covered with red Say There after they had Bathed more or less as each of them found convenient they remained all Night and early in the Morning were bade good morrow by his Majesties Musick Then arising and Apparelling themselves in a Cordeliers Habit being a long russet Gown with wide sleeves and a Hood tyed close about the middle with a Cordon of Ash-coloured and Russet silk reaching down almost to the knees and a white Napkin or Handkerchief hanging thereat they proceeded to Hen. 7. Chappel in the same order as the Night before doing the same rev●●●●●● and heard Divine Service and took the usual Oath before the said Lords ●ommissioners which was read to them by Sir Edward Walker Principal King o● Arms in these words Right dear Br●●her GReat Wo●sh●p be this Order to every of you You shall Honour God above all things ●ut shall be stedfast in the Faith of Christ and the same maintain and defend t● y●ur Power You shall love your Soveraign above all earthly things and for y●u● Soveraigns Right live and dye You shall defend Maidens Widdows and Orphans in their right You shall suffer no Extortion as far as you may nor sit in any place where wrong Iudgment shall be given to your knowledge And of as great Honour be this Order to you as ever it was to any of your Progenitors or others This done they returned in the same order they came to the Painted Chamber and put on the Habit of the Order which was a Mantle and Surcoat of red Taffata lined and edged with white Sarcenet and thereto fastned two long strings of white silk with buttons and tassels of red silk and gold and a pair of white Cloves tyed to them a white Hat and white Feather in this Garb they Dined in the Painted Chamber and thence girded with a Sword the Pummel and cross-Hilt whereof were guilt the Scabbard of white Leather and Belt of the s●me with guilt Spurs carried by their Pages they marched on Horse-back by Seniority to White-Hall with the Heraulds before them from the Old Palace round about the New and so through Kingstreet going round the place where Charing-Cross stood and then to White-hall where they alighted and after they had gone about the first Court they were conducted by the Heraulds to the Banqueting-House where His Majesty sate under a Cloath of State to receive them They were brought up by six and six each between his two Esquires with his Page carrying his Sword before him In their approaches towards his Majesty they made three Obeysances and each Knight being presented by his two Esquires upon their knees to the King the Lord Chamberlain of His Majesties Houshold receiving the Knights Swords from the Pages and delivering it to the King He with the Sword of State ready drawn conferred upon them their respective Knight-hoods by laying the Sword upon their shoulders and so put the presented Sword upon the Knights Neck in such sort that it might hang on his left side and then the said Scabbard with the Order hanging at it Which done the Knight made his obeysance of Gratitude to His Majesty and falling back the rest were brought up and Knighted in like manner After this they went down into his Majesties Chappel and there heard Divine Service with the Organ and Anthems and then went up six at a time to the Altar and offered up their Swords where Gilbert Lord Bishop of London Dean of His Majesties Royal Chappel received them and laid them upon the Altar and afterwards restored them with this Admonition By the Oath which you have taken this day I exhort and admonish you to use these Swords to the Glory of God and defence of the Gospel to the maintenance of your Sovereigns Right and Honour and to the upholding of Equity and Iustice to your power So help you God This done they returned from the Chappel where the Kings Master-Cook stood with his Chopping-Knife in his hand challenging their Spurs which were severally redeemed with a Noble in Money As they passed by he said Gentlemen you know what a great Oath you have taken which if you keep it will be great honour to you but if you break it I must back off your Spurs from your heels When they came unto the great Hall the Officers at Arms acquainted them that on Monday following they were to attend his Majesty from the Tower to White-Hall on Horseback in the same Robes wherein they were Knighted and on Tuesday to meet early in the Painted Chamber in their Purple Sattin Habits thence to go before his Majesty to his Coronation at Westminster This Ceremony being over the King to honour this
great Solemnity advanced some eminent Persons to higher degrees of Dignity to be as Jewels to that Crown which should be placed on his Head they were Twelve in number six Earls and six Barons The Names of whom are as followeth Edward Lord Hide of Hendon Lord high Chancellour of England was created Earl of Clarendon Arthur Lord Capel was created Earl of Essex Thomas Lord Brudenel was created Earl of Cardigan Arthur Viscount Valentia in Ireland was created Earl of Anglesey Sir Iohn Greenvile Gentleman of His Majesties Bed-Chamber and Groom of the Stool was created Earl of Bath Charles Howard of His Majesties Privy Council was created Earl of Carlisle Denzil Hollis Esq was created Lord Hollis of Ifeld Sir Frederick Cornwallis was created Lord Cornwallis of Eye in Suffolk an antient Barony Sir George Booth Baronet was created Lord de-la-Mere Sir Horatio Townsend was created Baron of Lyn-Regis Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper was created Baron of Winterbourn St. Gyles Iohn Crew was created Lord Crew of Stene The Earls at their Creation had two Earls their supporters their Cap and Coronet carried by one their Sword by another and their Mantle by a third The Lords were likewise supported by two Lords their Cap and Mantle in the same manner but no Sword These Peers being thus led up Garter King of Arms attending them to the King upon their several approaches their Patents were presented by Sir William Walker Principal King at Arms which being by the Lord Chamberlain delivered to the King and from him to Secretary Nicholas were by him read and then given by His Majesty to the Respective Nobles who after they were vested with their Robes had their several Caps and Coronets placed upon their Heads by His Majesties own hands as he sate in a Chair of State These likewise were ordered to attend the King at his Coronation which Commenced its glories Monday the Twenty second of April aforesaid it having rained a Moneth together before it pleased God that not one drop fell on this Triumph which appeared in its full Lustre and Grandeur but as soon as the solemnity was past and the King and his Train at Dinner in Westminster-Hall it fell a Thundering Lightning and Raining with the greatest force vehemence and noise that was ever heard or seen at that time of the year The Streets were gravelled all the way and filled with a multitude of Spectators out of the Countrey and some Forreigners who acknowledged themselves never to have seen among all the great M●gnificences of the World any to come near or equal this even the Vaunting French confessed their Pomps of the late Marriage with the Infanta of Spain at their Majesties entrance into Paris to be inferiour in its State Gallantry and Riches unto this most Illustrious Cavalcade Which proceeded on this manner as the NOBILITY and GENTRY were placed within and without the Tower First went the Horse-Guard of his Highness the Duke of York the Messengers of his Majesties Chamber the Esquires of the Knights of the Bath One hundred thirty six in number the Knight Harbenger the Serjeant-Porter the Sewers of the Chamber the Quarter-waiters of the six Clerks of the Chancery the Clerks of the Signet the Clerks of the Privy Seal the Clerks of the Council the Clerks of both Houses of Parliament the Clerks of the Crown the Chaplains in Ordinary having Dignities ten in number the King's Advocate and Remembrancer the Kings learned Counsel at Law the Master of the Chancery the Kings puisne Serjeants the Kings Attorney and Solicitors the King 's eldest Serjeants Secretaries of the French and Latine Tongues the Gentlemen-Ushers daily waiters the Sewers Carvers and Cup-bearers in ordinary the Esquires of the Body the Masters of standing Offices being no Councellors viz. of the Tents Revels Ceremonies Armory Wardrope Ordnance Master of Requests Chamberlain of the Exchequer Barons of the Exchequer and Judges of the Law according to their Dignity the Lord chief Baron the Lord chief Justice of the Common Pleas the Master of the Rolls the Lord chief Justice of England Trumpets the Gentlemen of the Privy-Chamber the Knights of the Bath sixty eight in Number the Knight Marshal the Treasurer of the Chamber Master of the Jewel-house Knights of the Privy Council Comptroller of his Majesties Houshold Treasurer of his Majesties Houshold Two Trumpets and Serjeants Trumpets Two Pursivants at Arms Barons eldest Sons Earls youngest sons Viscounts eldest sons Barons Marquesses younger sons Earls eldests sons Two Pursivants at Arms. Viscounts Dukes younger sons Marquesses eldest sons Two Heraulds Earls Earl Marshal and Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold Dukes eldest sons Serjeants at Arms on both sides the Nobility Clarencieux and Norroy Lord Treasurer Lord Chancellor Lord High Steward Duke of Ormond two persons representing the Duke of Normandy and Aquitain Gentleman-Vsher Garter Lord Mayor Sir Richard Brown The Duke of York alone The Lord High Constable of England Earl of Northumberland Lord Great Chamberlain of England Earl of Lindsey The Sword by the Duke of Richmond The KING Equerries and Footmen next and about his Majesty Gentlemen and Pensioners without them the Master of the Horse Duke of Albemarl leading a spare Horse the Vice-Chamberlain to the King Captain of the Pensioners Captain of the Guard the Guard the Kings Life guard Commanded by my Lord Gerrard the Generals Life-guard by Sir Philip Howard a Troop of Voluntier Horse and a Company of Foot by Sir Iohn Robinson The way from the Tower to Aldgate was guarded by the Hamlets from thence to Temple-Bar by the Trained-Bands of London on one side and lined with the Liveries on the other side with the Banners of each Company The Windows were all along laid with the best Carpets and Tapestry Bands of Musick in several places and the Conduits running with Wine In St. Pauls Church-yard stood the Blew-coat boys of Christ-Church Hospital One in behalf of the rest declared their joy for his Majesties wonderful preservation in his absence and his Arrival thither humbly beseeching his Majesties Gracious favour and indulgence according to the example of his Royal Ancestors and his Father of blessed memory The King was very well pleased with this Speech and after conferred something on the Boy that spoke it In the Strand and through Westminster also the ways were gravelled and rayled being guarded on both sides with the Trained bands of that Liberty and City and his Majesties two Regiments of Foot under the command of his Grace the Duke of Albemarle and Colonel Russel brother to the Earl of Bedford The houses were also richly adorned with the Carpets and Tapestry and Musick particularly a stage of Morice-dancers at the Maypole in the Strand in the several places all along his Majesties passage When his Majesty came through Temple-bar into his Antient and Native City of Westminster the Head-bayliff in a Scarlet Robe and High Constable in Scarlet received his Majesty with loud Musick where alighting off their horses and kneeling down to
Dominions and an invitation was sent hither from them to others of the same principles to follow them Her Majesty Queen Catharina was now expected to be at Sea and therefore his Majesty came to the Parliament and acquainted them with the same and desired that as a Complement to her they would cause the Highways and Streets of London to be fitted and cleansed against her reception and to make what hast with convenience they could with the dispatch of those Bills under their consideration And soon after to remedy the perversness and obstinacy of the Quakers against taking the Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy and their meeting and Conventicling publickly together to the pestring of the prisons whither they were Committed and their Enthusiast tricks one Thomas formerly a Lieutenant of that party poysoning himself and one Powel a Widdow poysoning of her Son-in-law and another person a Bill was passed against them with the said Bill for High-ways now ready for the King's assent which he gave by his Commission to the Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Duke of Albemarle and Earl of Manchester By this Act several inconvenient passages in London are to be enlarged and Houses that jutted into the street and obstructed the ways were to be pulled down as the upper end of Ludgate-hill on the South-side of the street and elsewhere Having but onely mentioned the Kings Declaration of his Marriage for his choice whereof both the Lords and Commons returned him their thanks it will not be impertinent in this place to give a larger and fuller account thereof This Royal Bride Heaven had more especially prepared and predisposed out of the Royal Family of the Kings of Portugal which having suffered an Ecclipse by the powerful interposition of the Spanish Monarchy for the space of neer an hundred years was now revisited in its Splendor in the assumption of Iohn Duke of Braganza the fourth of that Name King of Portugal by almost as miraculous a Turn as that of our Captivity by the Kings Restitution So Providence was pleased to adapt and fit both these Princes Conditions and Estates to this happy juncture of them in this Royal and happy Estate This was designed by King Iohn in the beginning of our Troubles and of his Reign and was one of the first Acts of State he did with us managed here by Don Antonio de Souza his Embassadour hither who was very instrumental in transacting His late Majesties Affairs of Forraign Concernments receiving and returning his Dispatches One Ingredient no doubt in point of Civility and Honour among those other of Affection and Interest that make up this Princely Match These were something as also his Majesties reflection on his Personal picque with the Spaniard who had very much disobliged him in the time of the Usurpation by courting and owning his Rebels to satisfie himself of some pretended injuries done him by his Grandfather and Father by loss of his Spanish Fleet in the Downs which the King had a most inviting opportunity here to remember Upon the return of the Conde de Mello as aforesaid with the Articles of Treaty and Marriage to Lisbon they were presently noysed about the City and more loudly reported from all the Cannon in the River both Portuges and Forraigners by which means without further Proclamation it was publick about the Town who like over-joyed People betook themselves to the presentest yet most solemn de monstrations thereof by Bonfires and Entertainments c. the Streets resounding with Healths al Re del Grand Brettanna which continued that Night and the next Day Not long after by an Express from England from the King to her she was Complemented with the Stile of Queen of Great Britain which put that Court into a new Splendor both to her Retinue and Attendance and all Honours and Duties done her as if she were actually Crowned It will not be much material to insist on all the other particulars viz. those several Messages sent and returned betwixt those two Royal Lovers together with the intercourse betwixt the Two Crowns in point of Alliance and Security nor the numerous resort of the English every day to Worship this Sun of the East and pay their Early Devotions to her It will be more unnecessary to relate those Romances and Fictions made by the Phanatick Crew at Home that there were a Fleet of Spaniards and Hollanders that lay ready in her way to intercept her Passage into England We will only mention the happy Arrival of that Fleet and the Royal Charles from England with Sir Richard Fa●shaw sent to salute the Queen for his Majesty who now impatiently expected her Arrival as did the whole Nation together with him Just at the same time the Earl of Sandwich now the second time visited the Queen being appointed to attend her departure and to convey her into England the King her Brother and Mother with his Nobles and the whole Court in a solemn Procession and Cavalcade from his Palace where the English Gallantry there present assisted accompanied her till she Arrived at the River-side the Golden Tagus where she entred a Stately Brigandine and the Naval Triumphs commenced their Glory For as soon as the King and Queen were reimbarqued for Lisbon and returned with the discharge of all the Cannon the Fleet immediately with a fair wind and leading Gale began their course being as they past the River saluted by all the Block-Houses Forts and Castles with the imitation of their Thunder That Night and part of the next day the Wind and Weather was very propitious but then coming clear about and contrary it so retarded the Voyage that in a Fortnights time they hardly got into the middle of the Bay of Biscay where the Queens Majesty dispatcht away Mr. Montague Sir Tho. Sands and Sir Ioseph Douglas on the 29 of April at Seven at Night to give an account to the King of Her Condition which the untowardliness and averseness of the Wind had much altered by protracting her longing desires of meeting the King and also incommodating her by the tossing and topping of the Sea so that she lay sick for the most part of the Voyage until about Fifth of May with indefatigable working and skill the whole Fleet reached the Islands of Scilly the furthermost Western Dominions of England Her Arrival had been every day expected a fortnight before which caused the King to send down his only Brother the Duke of York Lord High Admiral to attend on her upon the Coast and to Complement her in his Name whereupon his Highness hasted to Portsmouth and on the Eleventh of May attended by the Duke of Ormond the Earls of Suffolk and Chesterfield the Lord Berckley and other Persons of Quality went aboard the stately Yacht with which the City of Amsterdam presented the King to Coast about the Isle of Wight to meet her Majesty On the same day Sir Ioseph Douglas making towards Portsmouth with an Express from her Majesty to
the King was met by his Highness the Duke of York five Leagues off the Isle of Wight who commanded him back with him to the Fleet. On Sunday morning about ten a Clock they discovered the Royal Iames but there was so great a Calm that they could not reach the Royal Charles till six at Evening No sooner had the General espied his Highness Yacht but he went out in his Barge to meet him the Royal Banner being all the while vayl'd till he was aboard When his Highness came into the Ship the Souldiers gave three several shouts and all the great Guns in the Royal Charles which from that time to the Queens Entrance had been silent proclaimed his Welcome after which several Ships of the Fleet paid him their Salutes Being conducted to her Majesties Cabbin he was placed in a Chair on her right hand where after several expressions of Joy for her Majesties happy Arrival on the Coast of England and having presented his Majesties high respects to and as exceeding Affection for Her his Royal Highness took his leave to retire himself to his Yacht for that Night and the next morning Sir Ioseph Douglas was again dispatched to the King in the illustrious Company of the said Duke of Ormond and Earls but was forced to Tide it thence and sometimes lay at Anchor and could not reach Portsmouth till the Evening Thirteenth of May from whence Sir Ioseph took Post leaving the Duke of Ormond to make preparation for the Reception of her Majesty That Night the Royal Fleet with the Princely Bride came to St. Helens point the Eastermost Promontory of the Isle of Wight almost opposite to Portsmouth from whence had it not been too bold an adventure to hazard her Majesty in that narrow Streight of Sea and in a Night-Tide they might have reached Portsmouth the next morning but making use of the Day-tide which served about Ten of the Clock on Wednesday the Fourteenth of May the Queen landed at Portsmouth about Four of the Clock in the Afternoon where She was received with all possible demonstrations of Honour the Nobility and Gentry and Multitudes of Londoners in most rich Apparel and in great numbers waiting on the Shore for her Landing and the Major and Aldermen and the Principal Persons of that Corporation being in their Gowns and with a Present and Speech ready to entertain Her the Cannon and small shot both from round that Town and the whole Fleet Ecchoing to one another the loud Proclamations of their Joy The King having received the express of his Queens Landing prepared to be gone forthwith to Salute her upon her Arrival but his great Affairs of State and Bills to be ratified by him into Acts of Parliament which were not quite ready for his Royal Assent delayed him at Whitehall till Monday-night the 19 th of May having sent before him the Bishop of London who departed the Seventeenth in order to the Solemnizing of the Marriage aforesaid Which Bills being numerous and very important when passed into Acts set us right where we were the same time Twenty years designing and enacting Remedies against those Mischiefs which prevailed against the happy Estate of the Kingdome before such as their Act passed in the former Session against Armed or Army-like Multitudes and number of Petitioners which are not to exceed seven or eight and have as far as humane Wisdome can provided against the like dangers of our late Confusions There passed likewise many several private Bills for selling of Lands and alienating them for payment of Debts which gave his Majesty occasion to take notice of the depravity and corruption of manners in the late times and to declare that his goodness in passing them now should not be brought into precedent for the future and he himself would become an example of frugality and would provide sumptuary Laws against the Excess and Vanity of the Age whose looseness and superfluity did so sadly affect him But to return His Majesty having Signed all the Acts which are now so many wholesome and good Laws as no Age of our Fore-fathers can boast of to adorn and Honour his Queens Arrival posted away at Nine a Clock that Night with his ordinary Guards in the Earl of Northumberland's Coach Prince Rupert with him only to Kingston where he came soon after Ten and at the end of that Town entered into the Earl of Chesterfield's there set ready for him and the Duke of York's Guards to attend him and came before Twelve at Night to Guilford being Twenty five miles where he Lodged that Night and next morning Posted with the same speed to Portsmouth where he arrived about Noon and because of the Queens indisposedness which yet held her in her Chamber the King satisfied himself by giving her a Visit privately that day and then withdrew to his own appartments Yet it pleased God to restore her Majesty to such a degree of Health that she was able to Consummate the Marriage Sacred Rites which were performed in that Town in private after which the Nuptials were concluded there by his Majesties Bedding his Queen that night During the rest of the stay Visits were given to the Grandees of Portugal who came over with the Queen by all the English Lords and Ladies and by them again returned until the removal of the Court next week to Winchester thence to Farnham to Windsor-Castle and so to Hampton-Court where their Majesties took up the most part of this Summer 1662. as well for the Salubrity as Majesty of it being one of the most Magnificent Structures of all the Royal Palaces Here the Queen received the Addresses of all the Nobility and Submissions of the several Deputies for the Cities of England more particularly from the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London who by Sir William Wylde their Recorder who pronounced a Spanish Oration presented her with a Purse of Gold Iune 2. On the Twenty third of August she was in great Triumph brought by Water from Hampton-Court to finish her Voyage to Whitehall all the Companies in their Barges nobly set out attending the Lord Mayor at this Solemnity and several Pageants were placed upon the River and Speeches designed All which made a very noble sight illustrated by the rich and glorious setting out of the King's Barge About seven at night their Majesties arrived to that Palace as somewhat before the Queen-Mother being fetch'd and attended by the Earl of Saint Albans arrived at Greenwich where for a while after she resided till her setling at Somerset-House as the abode of her remaining Widdowhood The Parliament of Ireland had likewise agreed upon an Act for raising One hundred and twenty thousand pound in two years by Subsidies In Scotland six Bishops were Consecrated in the Abbey-Church of Holy-Rood-House at Edenburgh with great satisfaction and solemnity where also the King had gratiously Pardoned Lorn the Marquess of Arguile's Son his Life which he had forfeited by judgment
was gratiously pleas'd to dispence with the attendance of Sir Thomas Mallet one of the Judges of the Kings Bench who had been Judge in the time of King Charles the First and by consequence being now by reason of his very great age disabled Sir Iohn Keeling was sworn in his place He was a Person of eminent Loyalty and Fidelity to the Crown The same month died the Learned and most Reverend Prelate Dr. Bramhal Archbishop of Armagh to which See he had been by his Majesty translated from that of London-Derry Of whom it is enough to say that he was the beloved Darling of those two Renowned Patriots Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford In Iuly came Intelligence from Tangier that Gayland had made a very vigorous Assault upon Tangier with about six thousand men the May before But the Earl of Teviot who was there newly arrived gave him so warm a welcom that he retired with the loss of above an hundred men and the Commander of his Horse who by his Crimson-velvet Coat was thought to be a Person of Quality besides that after he was slain the rest went off immediately Not long after he made a second Attempt with 10000 men but though he made a very sharp Assault his Entertainment was far more warm than the former for he lost a thousand men After which Defeat the Earl of Teviot sent him a Letter to let him know that though the King of Great Britain wanted neither resolution nor ability to maintain his Right yet he was a friend to Peace which so prevailed upon Gayland that he sent Messengers for a Treaty and soon after came to an Accord On the 22 th of this month was Christened Iames Son of his Royal Highness in the Chappel of St. Iames's by the Bishop of London then Elect Archbishop of Canterbury His Majesty and the Lord Chancellor were God-fathers and the Queen-Mother was God-mother The State was born by the Earl of St. Albans and the Earl of Sandwich and the Dutchess of Buckingam held the Infant On the 27 th of Iuly his Majesty going to the House of Peers where the House of Commons went to attend him after a short Speech declaring among other things how he had proceeded by Commands and Directions to all his Judges in all Affairs which the Season and other Necessities would not permit to pass into Acts gave his Royal Assent to several Bills and then Prorogued them till the 16 th of March following The chief Acts were An Act for four entire Subsidies to his Majesty by the Temporalty An Act to confirm four Subsidies granted by the Clergy A third in behalf of Indigent Officers and for settling the profits of the Post-Office and Wine-Licences upon the Duke of York and his Heirs And for better Collecting the Duty of Excise c. Nor may it be amiss to relate the manner of the Translation of the Right Reverend Gilbert Archbishop of Canterbury as being novel to the Reading of this Age and a Solemnity not every day common Just before the Bishops came into the Chappel the Mace-bearer the Archbishops Steward Treasurer and Controller all in their Habits with white Staves in their hands In the next place followed the Bishops in their Episcopal Robes After these the Dean of the Arches the Judge of the Admiralty and the Judge of the Archbishops Prerogative-Court with divers Advocates in Scarlet Robes Lastly several Proctors in the Archbishops Court in Hoods and Habits The Congregation being placed in the Chappel Divine Service was celebrated by two of the Archbishops Chaplains which being ended the Bishops were brought up from the Seats they had taken to that part of the Chappel where all things were transacted relating to the Ceremony in which having seated themselves the Kings Commission under the Great Seal was presented to the Bishops by the Archbishops Vicar-General and was publickly read by the Dean of the Arches whereupon the Bishops accepting of the Commission the Vicar-General went forth and conducted the Archbishop into the Chappel the Mace-bearer Steward and Controller marching before and presented him to the rest of the Bishops who being then seated in a Chair before them the Bishops Commissioners proceeded in course of Law and at length to a definitive Sentence which was publickly read by the first Bishop in Commission and then subscribed by himself and the rest of the Bishops whereby the Election was confirmed and made good in Law It being now Vacation-time His Majesty went his Progress Westward from London to Bath and from thence through Gloucestershire to Oxford being presented at Reading and Newbury with Purses of Gold receiving where-ever he came very high and splendid Entertainments particularly at Littlecot from Sir Popham at Newbury from Sir Thomas Dolman from the Lord Seymor at Marleborough from Sir Iames Thyn at Ling-leet at Badmanton from the Marquess of Worcester and at Cornbury from the Lord Chancellor Coming to Oxford he was met half a mile from the City by the Doctors and Scholars in all their Formalities and entring the Suburbs by the Militia of the City through which he pass'd from his first Entry to his Lodgings During his abode there he visited the Schools where a Noble Banquet attended him He also toucht above 300 Persons with which impression of duty and reverence left behind him he return'd in October to London The Parliament of Scotland had this year sate ever since the 18 th of Iune in which time the main thing which they did of general Concernment was their Condemnation of Archibald Iohnson alias Laird Wariston a Member of the Committee of Safety who was executed on the 22 th of Iuly at the Market-Cross of Edenburgh having receiv'd his Sentence in the Parliament-House In the next place was their Constitution of a National Synod or Assembly of the Church the first that ever was constituted in that Kingdom under Bishops whereby the ordering and disposal of the external Government of the Church and the Nominations of the Members of the Synod were to be in the King by vertue of his Prerogative Royal in Causes Ecclesiastical As to the Members constituting the same they were to be Archbishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons the Moderators of Meetings for Exercises with one Minister of each Meeting to be chosen by the Moderator and plurality of Ministers for the same The Synod to meet at such time and places as his Majesty should appoint by Proclamation and to debate of such matters relating to the Government and Doctrine of the Church as his Majesty should deliver to the President And lastly no Assembly to be held without the presence of his Majesty or his Commissioner Their second Act was for an Army of 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse with forty days provision to be in readiness as they should be call'd to march to any part of his Majesties Dominions for suppressing any forein Invasion or for any other Service